What nature screwed up
by In2lalaland
Summary: Duo breaks up with his girlfriend when she decides to have a sex change. Three years later he runs into her in a food store, only she is not Meilan anymore, she is a man named Wufei Chang. AU, 2x5x2, deals with transsexualism. *COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

What Nature Screwed Up.

Chapter One

"Duo, we need to talk."

By god, those words had to be the worst in the universe. Especially when they were coming from your girlfriend. Duo paused and put the milk back into the refrigerator. Slowly, he took a step back, closed the door and turned towards her.

She was sitting by the kitchen table, back straight, eyes down on her tightly clasped hands. He slowly walked over and pulled out the chair on the other side of the table. Reluctantly, he sat down. What ever this was about, he knew that he was not going to like it. Meilan wasn't one for deep conversations, and if he had done something wrong she would just tell him, loudly. So, this 'we need to talk' thing freaked him out big time.

She ran a hand through her short, shaggy black hair."I don't know how I'm going to tell you this..."

'Shit, this is going to be bad.' Duo thought in dread, as his stomach took a sky dive.

"I've tried to tell you before, but I just-" She laughed sadly. "I guess that I'm just too much of a coward."

Duo bit his tongue to stop himself from crying. 'She found someone else, I just know it.'

"But I finally got the green light for... it. I've been waiting for such a long time. You might not understand, I hope you will, but I want you to know that this is something that I _have_ to do." She took a shaky breath. "So, I just needed to tell you that I - I'm getting a sex change."

'Wait... what?' Duo's depressed thoughts came to an abrupt stop. He stared with his mouth open at his nervous-looking girlfriend. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm getting a sex change." She said in a scratchy voice. Her fingers were turning white on her tightened fists, her short nails digging into the skin.

Duo slowly shook his head as if he were in shock. "Did- what?" he stammered.

The woman turned her face away. "I am regretful that I did not inform you about the situation before, it was unfair and disrespectful, and for that I apologize."

God damn, Meilan always used the stiff speak when she was serious. But fuck no, she couldn't be serious. "I know you're not like this girly-girl, but a -_sex_ _change-_ ... isn't that taking it a bit too far?"

Meilan shook her head. "No, I know this is right. I should have been a man and I intend to live like one."

Duo suddenly had the crazy mental picture of Meilan, wearing a suit in front of a white pickled fence next to a woman in a frilly dress "A man?" he repeated. "What, with a wife, 2.5 children and a dog?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm gay."

Duo stared, eyes wide in confusion. "What? Did you change your mind, just like that, like right now? You're a lesbian now?"

Meilan glared. "No, you asshole. I just told you, I'm not a woman, I'm a gay man."

Duo rubbed his hands over his face uttering a frustrated sound. "You have got to be skiting me, a gay man? Do you seriously expect me to buy this?"

He could see the anger growing in her eyes. "Yes. I expect you to do just that."

"Mei, seriously. What the fuck?"

"I've thought a lot about this and I know that I should not have been born this way. I'm going to fix what nature screwed up." She met his eyes straight on, steel-hard determination staring back at him. "So all I want to know is: are you going to support me?"

Duo pushed his chair back, getting to his feet, as if putting physical distance between them would somehow make a difference. "No! Are you out of your mind? You need to get some fucking therapy or something, because this is insane!" Even as he said the words, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. And it was.

The whole thing ended in a disaster. Meilan wouldn't speak to him since "he was an insensitive asshole" and Duo refused to to bend, quite literary, just because she gotten in to her head that she wanted to be a guy. They reached an stalemate**.** In the end, Duo packed up his things and left not only her, but the town as well, never to set his foot there again.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

This started out as a part of my Fanfiction cliché project as a gender bender but the subject was just too serious to rush through.

_Now, a note for the people reading my other fictions:_

I'm sorry that I have not been updating, it has not been by choice. My computer has more or less been possessed by a demon who enjoys making me suffer. To make a long and frustrating story short, I've been waiting for my betas to send me the chapters back, wondering why no one answered any of my emails while my beta readers were wondering why I didn't send them anything.

I wish that was it. Unfortunately, it's not. Last night, things got a _hell_ of a lot worse. I don't even know how to explain it because I don't know what happened. For some reason, my writing program (open office) crashed and burned. Now I can't open most of my documents, the rest looks like they are written in a alien language. I don't know if it's permanent, but if it is... I honestly don't know what to do. We are talking about almost a 100 pages that I don't know if I can re-write.

But on the up side (inget ont som inte för något gott med sig!), since I waited so long for my beta readers I, when I finally got a hold of them, sent them more then I normally would have done. So, the fictions that are going to be updated as soon as I get them back is; My dark eyed wallflower, What nature screwed up, Fanfiction cliché, What's my favourite tea (epilogue) and Ménage á trois - for love and the need of therapy.

Now, if it wouldn't be too much to ask, would you leave me a review before you go? I could use some cheering up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

-Three years later-

Duo slowly moved his eyes over the long line of different shampoos standing on the shelf in front of him. There were so many to choose from, different brands, different functions, different smells. It was actually the smell that drove him not to buy his usual brand; he was getting sick of it and needed something new. There was one that was made to strengthen long hair, but it smelled like a flower shop, and another that smelled sharp and masculine but with no special functions. He moved on, looking for the perfect blend.

Absently he heard steps coming towards him, but he payed it no mind, his focus was on the shelves. With a hair like his, you couldn't buy just anything.

"Hello Duo." A voice spoke from behind him.

Duo turned around and looked at the young Chinese man who appeared next to him. He looked slightly familiar, but he couldn't for the life of him place how he knew him."Sorry, do I know you?" He asked, feeling embarrassed that he didn't recognize someone who obviously recognized him.

The man gave him a slow, pleased smile. "Yeah, but I might look a bit different since we met the last time."

Duo searched his memory, trying to place him. He went through old classmates, childhood friends, old work buddies, and neighbors. But in the end, it was the eyes that gave it away. Those dark brown eyes that he spent so much time gazing into.

"M- Meilan?" He stuttered in surprise.

The man grinned. "Yeah, it's me. ButI go by Wufei these days."

Duo had a feeling that he probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but he couldn't find the will to care as he stared at his ex-girlfriend...who was a guy.

"Holy Jesus fucking Christ on a stick." He breathed.

Meilan laughed. "It's nice to see you too, Duo."

"How? What? Mei?" Duo spat out irregularly, staring at the man in front of him.

A very male laughter rouse from her throat. "I see some things don't change."

"Mei?" Duo breathed, the world swaying slightly around him.

His ex flicked her - his, head towards the exit. "Come on, let's go somewhere so we can talk."

Duo nodded helplessly, following her... him, leaving his half-full shopping cart standing alone in the aisle.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

They ended up in a small coffee house just around the corner. Duo really could not take his eyes off his former girlfriend, marveling at the fact that she was no longer a girl.

They found a small table further away from the rest, just next to the back wall. The sound of people talking around them turned into a strange sort of background noise as they took a seat on ether side of the table.

Duo was the first to find his tongue. "So, you really did it."

It wasn't a question, but Meilan answered anyway. "Yeah."

Duo rubbed a hand over his mouth before leaning back the uncomfortable steel chair with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't know what to say, but one neutral question managed to make its way through his confusion. "So, what are you doing here? Do you live here, or what?" He couldn't remember hearing much news about his old girlfriend but he assumed that she would have stay in town with her family.

Meilan... Wufei nodded. "Yes, I moved here more or less as soon as I got out of the hospital. I just wanted to start a new life, the life I should have had all along. I wanted people to know me as Wufei and not 'that chick that got a sex change'. You know."

Duo nodded even thou he didn't.

Wufei put his elbows up on the table. "So what are you doing here? I heard that you moved but I didn't know where."

Duo startled slightly, shifting his long legs around under the table "Oh, I've been here since - since I... moved out. I became friends with this guy who wanted to start up his own repair shop. He hired me and a couple of other guys to work for him. We mostly fix up worn down classic cars and sell them off expensively."

Wufei tilted his head, putting it down on his raised hand with a small wishful smile. "Sounds like your life-long dream, except that you don't own the shop."

"Even better because I don't have to do the paperwork." Duo pulled on the edge of his ear, a nervous gesture he never managed to grow out off. "We're a pretty small shop, just four people, but we get by."

"I'm happy for you."

"Thanks... " There was an awkward pause where Duo tried both to think of something to say and to not pull his own ear off. "So, what are you up to?"

Meilan's back stretched slightly in pride, elbows sliding off the table. "Well I just graduated, so you are looking at a certified lawyer."

Duo grinned, knowing how much it meant for her. "Really? That's great, congratulations."

"Thank you. I even got a job at this small law firm. It doesn't pay all that much but it's better than nothing."

"Yes, I remember how well you handled being unemployed." He couldn't help but tease her.

A familiar half smile appeared on the man's face. "Yeah, yeah, but the apartment needed new wallpaper."

Duo felt his heart contract. He had missed her so much these last few years. More then he even thought possible. But the reason why it didn't work out was right before him, bringing back old feelings of confusion and sorrow.

Duo sighed and ran a hand through his bangs, ending the movement with a slight pull of his ear. "I still can't get over that we are sitting here, holding a civilized conversation."

Meilan - no- Wufei nodded. "Well, I was angry, but after the absolute hell that I went through, the anger just felt pointless."

"Oh... so how did the..." He cleared his throat and gesticulated vaguely over his own body."How did it go? How was it?"

Wufei was silent for a moment. "Well, hell is probably the best description. Painful, follows closely. Endless amount of testosterone, and surgery after surgery. The last three years have been more or less just a big blur of pain mixed with exams."

"So errr, are you like uhmm..." he trailed off.God this was awkward. He was talking to a guy that used to be his girlfriend about how she turned herself into a guy. He wondered just how much of a guy she was.

Wufei chuckled as he caught him looking at his lap.

"Yes, I have a dick now."

"Holy shit." He muttered faintly. "How did they do that? Did they like cut it off someone who didn't want it anymore?"

A loud snort took Duo back in time to when Meilan used to make fun of of him when she thought he was being naive. "No, they did not cut it off someone else. Believe me, you don't want to hear the details, but I can tell you that what used to be in the inside, is now on the outside."

Duo grimaced. "Ew."

"You asked."

"Next time, don't tell me." Duo rubbed the edge of the table, using it as a excuse to look away from those eyes just for a moment. "How much did all that cost anyway?"

Duo watched Wufei tilted his head slightly like he had seen Meilan do a thousand times when she was calculating something in her head. "85.000, if you count how much it took to get rid of the fat bags on my chest."

Duo choked. "Where the hell did you get all that money?"

"I had the inheritances from my grandparents and I borrowed the rest from my parents."

"Should have known, your parents are the greatest." They were another thing Duo had missed since they split up. He loved his own mother but she was far too busy with her own life to take any part in his. Meilan's big, welcoming family had taken him in and showed him what a family should be like. The loss of them left a hole almost as big as Meilan had." How are they by the way?"

"Oh, good, great even. I got another little sister a few months ago."

Duo lit up. "Really? That's great."

"Yeah, she's the cutest thing ever. Wait," He reached for his back pocket and got his wallet out. Flipping through several photos, he pulled out one of them and handed it over to Duo.

Duo smiled brightly at the small slightly pissed off looking baby on it. "Aw, that is so cute. And I think she got your hair." He snickered, pointing at the tussled black hair on the baby.

"Shut up, why do you think I wear it long now days?" Wufei said, pulling slightly at his own ponytail.

"Oh, you have long hair now." Duo repeated in mild surprise.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "You are such a guy."

"Welcome to the gang, here is your oblivious card. We meet every Thursday, it's a pretty great set-up." He said, pretending to hold out a membership card. He was feeling a strange sort of payback for all the times Meilan picked on him for not noticing when she cut her hair, when she changed the curtains or when she redecorated the living room.

"Well I'm a gay guy, I'm the best parts of both worlds." Wufei said with a smirk, making Duo chuckle.

With one last look at the baby, Duo handed the picture back. "Hey, Mei. I find it ironic that out of seven kids, you are the only guy."

Wufei laughed. "Believe me, I know."

Duo felt a warm, soft feeling spread inside of him as he smiled back.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Ah, now we are getting somewhere. Please review, I'm not as down as yesterday but I could use some inspiration.

Unfortunately I still can't open my documents. But luckily a friend of mine (Aniratac!") got me a (legal O.O) copy of Microsoft word so now I can at least start to re-write what I have lost. I'm just going to have to be able to think about it without starting to hyperventilate first.

A HUGE thank you to everyone that reviewed, you made my horrible day a bit brighter.

_Mongose_ (lol, yes who else would start writing something like this? I hope you'l like it.), _Kayya_ (lol, yes I'm finally back. Thank you for the compliment), _DeceptiveInnocenceXIII_ (glad to know, I hope I won't disappoint you. I was about to say –'glad to know I'm not alone', but really that would be awful of me XD) _Reniee Maxwell_ (Thank you, I'm holding my thumb that I will get it working again. I hope you liked the chapter) _Tsukamei_ (and suddenly my problems doesn't seem so bad. Damn, you must have been crying blood when you realized it was all gone.)_Shekinaah_ (it is a very interesting subject. I would recommend you an amazing book but my sister borrowed it a while back and I don't remember the name of the author. Let me know if you are interested and I'll give her a call to find out. It's about a woman who was born a man and her life. It's a true story and she is unbelievable. She has even been in James Bond movie XD) _Shan Chan_ (The Wufei-Meilan blend is actually my biggest fear in this fiction and I was thrilled to now that you thought I succeeded. But I am wondering how you thought I managed with it now when Wufei is fully male. I hope I won't disappoint you with the rest of the fiction) _Snowdragonct_ (So I sparked you curiosity did I? Glad to know and I hope you still find it interesting. It was nice to hear that you found it realistic, that was what I was trying to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't) _Becce-chan'05_( Now you got me all exited too XD, thank you. I hope you liked the chapter.) _Spider-jen_ (Thank you, I hope that you still find it interesting.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei invited him over to see his new apartment, but they both knew that wasn't the main reason. They needed to air some things out that they never got the chance to work through. Things that should not be aired in public.

Duo nervously stepped into the apartment. He barely speared the place a glance, he wastoo focused on the other _man_ in the room.

He followed him into the living room, walking around large piles of boxes that were over the place.

Duo decided to dive right in, sincethere were no point in pretending that they were here for any other reason than to argue. "How did you figure out that you wanted to be a guy anyway?"

Wufei leaned against the living room wall, leaving a healthy distance between them. "I've always been a guy."

Duo snorted. "Believe me, I know very well that you weren't. Meilan was all female."

Wufei shook his head. "On the outside maybe, but not on the inside."

"You sure acted like you was female." Duo pointed out stubbornly.

Wufei groaned in annoyance "Don't you get it? There never was a Meilan, I made her up! She was just an act. She was what I thought people wanted to see. She was fake through and through."

Duo shifted his jaw in anger. No, he refused to believe that. The one girl he had loved with everything he had, was not fake. "Fuck you, she was real. I loved her!"

"No. You loved me. _Wufei._ Because that is who I've always been!"

Duo didn't know what to say, he just sank down on the couch with his head in his hands. "This is so fucked up." He murmured.

"You were in love with a guy, get over it." Wufei muttered as he walked over to the couch and sat next to him, lifting his feet up on a box marked with 'towels'.

Duo pressed the heal of his hands against his closed eyes. "I can't believe that you didn't tell me. You just sat me down and said, 'I'm going to get a dick, deal with it' without any warning."

"Yeah, because bringing something like that into a conversation is so easy." Wufei said defensively.

Duo looked over at him, with a glare. "Well some kind of warning would have been nice."

Wufei bared his teeth as he got up on his feet, glaring down at Duo with his fists clenched. "Oh, don't you dare! Don't you dare to even _hint _that this could have ended any other way than it did! So what, if I explained it in a way that didn't make you to blow up in my face, would you have stayed? Would you have been there while they injected testosterone into me? Would you have been there while I could hardly move be cause of all the surgery on my groin?!"

"I might have!" Duo replied loudly, punching his fist into the couch pillow under him. "Maybe not as you boyfriend but as a friend! I loved you, I loved you so fucking much but-"

"It wasn't enough." he cut in harshly.

Duo sighed sadly, leaning forward to bury his face in his hands." No... I guess not. But I wish I could go back and handle it better. I was just so shocked, I didn't know what to think. It took me days before I even managed to get everything straight in my head." Duo felt his eyes starting to water. "I- I did try to get a hold of you... a few weeks later. But your father told me that you didn't want to speak to me."

"Can you blame me? The man I loved told me I was insane, and that I needed therapy when I reveled my deepest wish and my biggest fear."

Duo wiped his eyes roughly with the back of his hand.. "I guess not... I just wished I could have gotten some warning."

"There were signs. You just never noticed."

He released a long breath and looked over at his ex. "Like what?"

"Well I wasn't very feminine now was I?" Wufei snorted, crossing his arms over his _flat_ chest.

"No, not really."

"I dressed like a man, I acted like a man, I only had male friends."

"I thought about it. But it's not like I thought 'oh, my girlfriend only likes to hang out with guys and likes baggy clothes, she must be a gay man.'" Duo pointed out.

Wufei scoffed mockingly. "No, perhaps not, but it was still pretty obvious that I was not comfortable in my body."

Duo crossed his arms defensively. "Well, I didn't notice anything."

"You never found it odd that I would let you fuck me up the ass anytime, but as soon as you got near the other one, I would refuse?"

Duo shifted, and played awkwardly with the end of his braid. "I just thought you didn't want to risk getting pregnant."

Wufei walked back and forth in front of the couch. "Yeah I was, it was my absolute worst nightmare, but it wasn't the only reason. I was absolutely appalled by that part of me. Hell, I hated my entire body, I hated everything about it. It was weak and useless, andI was disgusted by it. I couldn't stand looking at it, and I used to either close my eyes or look at the wall whenever I undressed. Sometimes I would accidentally brush against my breasts and it would make me so ill that I felt like throwing up. I couldn't even think about what I had down there. I could never go to the bathroom without feeling anxious."

"Oh." Was all Duo managed to say to the open floodgate of Wufei's emotions were rushing over him.

"Yeah, 'oh'. One of the happiest moments of my life was the first time I managed to take a piss while standing."

Duo looked up at Wufei. "Are you happy? Was it worth it?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Yes." Wufei said without hesitation. "It was worth it. But I lost a lot. Friends, family... my cousin Zhang and my uncles think I've embarrassed the family, and won't have anything to do with me." Wufei looked up . "And I lost you. I went through so much pain, so much humiliation, but yes, it was worth it."

Duo swallowed thickly, trying not to feel hurt to hear that he didn't regret, what to Duo was one of the worst things to ever happen to him."That's all that matters... isn't it?"

Wufei smiled sadly. "Yeah... it wasn't easy but... yeah." The Asian sat down and put his legs back up on the box. "I'm still getting used to all the changes, not just the physical but the rest as well. I might be male, but I was raised to be a female, it isn't something you can just get rid of just because you want to."

Duo nodded. It made sense. Especially since Meilan had six younger sisters. "What did your parents say anyway?"

"They didn't really say all that much but they were pretty shocked. They were really supportive during the operations, not only with the money but they helped me a lot both before and after."

Duo couldn't help but echo Wufei's sad smile. "Your parents really are the greatest."

"Yeah, I know."

"I really missed them when I moved." Duo confessed, leaning his head back against the top of the couch.

"That I can understand. I've barely been here for a week and I miss them like mad."

Duo looked around at the unopened boxes. "So how do you like it here so far?" He asked, wanting to get away from the earlier argument.

Wufei shrugged, leaning his head on the back of the couch, mirroring Duo's pose. "Well, I haven't really seen much outside the office, but it seems nice."

Duo nodded, looking down at his fingers that were rubbing the edge of the a couch pillow."It is. It's well looked after, and there are a lot of nice people here."

"I wouldn't know. I'm still new in town, I haven't really managed to get to know anyone yet." Wufei sighed bitterly. "It seriously fucks up my tries to fit in as a guy. From what I've been told by the so-called experts, it's easier to learn if you are around guys in a social environment."

Duo sat up a bit straighter. "I could help."

Wufei looked over in confusion. "With what?"

"Helping you get more in to the guy thing." Duo turned in his seat towards the other man. "I could introduce you around, let you get to know some people."

Wufei smiled. "Thank you, that would actually be really helpful."

Duo smiled back, feeling something like relief.

He decided that it was the least thing he could do. Because looking back, he knew that he just might have been the insensitive asshole that she accused him off being. He should have been there, even if they couldn't be together anymore, he could still have been there as a friend.

He couldn't go back in time to help her, but he was here now and he was going to help ease her way in a man's world. After all, Meilan had been one of his best friends and Wufei just might be too.

"You should come to our food night." Duo said suddenly as he leaned back put his feet up next to Wufei's on the box.

"Your what?"

"Our food night**." **Duo repeated. "We, the guys from work and I, get together at one of our places and the guy who lives there cooks for the rest of them."

"No offence, but you sound like a bunch of middle age women."

Duo shrugged. "We all kind of had bad eating habits when we started working together. Heero and I ate mostly junk, Quatre was too busy to eat and Trowa was too lazy to eat."

Wufei rolled his eyes as he muttered something about idiots under his breath.

Duo, who was used to Meilan's dramatics just smiled. "I think it was Trowa's idea from the start. We decided to get together at least once a week and eat a real meal." Duo grinned. "Then, because we're guys, the whole thing turned into a competition. Who could cook the coolest meal with the fanciest name and so on. It turned out great, everyone learned how to cook and we always have lunch boxes in the fridge."

Wufei snickered. "A competition? God, I wish I thought of that, you were a disaster in the kitchen."

Duo grinned. "Oh, I'm still a disaster, I just get better results in the end."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

**A/N.** Please tell me what you thought about the chapter, I really want to know.

Happy news!

The battle was long and vicious but in the end the demon fell and I once again got control over my documents. Unfortunately, there were casualties. My latest fanfiction cliché was reduced to one single blank page.

If anyone is interested in reading about Duo the neko (cat ears, tail, claws and spinning, the whole thing), let me know and I might find the strength to re-write it.

Thank you to everyone who left me reviews and sympathy, you have helped me more that you could possibly imagine.

Unfortunately I don't have time to give a responds to all these _wonderful people_ but those who wondered about something will have their answer._ Kayya_ – I do believe that it that we are leaning towards soul mates. _Shekinaah_ – Thank you, I'm going to try to find that movie, it sounds very interesting. I read a lot about transexuality before I started writing it and I hope that I will be able to make it realistic. _Kichikoneko_ – I'm actually working a lot on the characters actions since I rely far too much on the dialog, so it was nice to hear that you liked it :) _Shan Chan _– Now that was probably the biggest compliment I have ever been given. You first review? Man, that's big. Thank you. I hope that you like the Wufei-Meilan action so far. _Mongose_ – Well, I from what I have read than yes it works. There is no sperm but he can have an orgasm. The operation doesn't work for everyone but it did for Wufei. Oh, and the age. Duo is 25 and Wufei is 27, they meet when Duo was 17 and Wufei 19.

Please review? Pleeeease?

If all goes as planed, then the next chapter will be posted on friday.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four  


* * *

Duo whistled happily as he changed into his overalls at work. Talking to Wufei the day before had unexpectedly put him in a very good mood. It was like a heavy load had been lifted from his back, when he finally could start to let go of the guilt he felt when he walked out on Meilan.

Maybe now, when he had meet Wufei and seen with his own eyes that they could not get back together, he could move on. He could start dating again, try to find someone, without comparing them to Meilan.

He had missed her like crazy these last few years, and he couldn't help but feel happy that she was back in his life. Even if she was a guy.

"Hey... what's up with you?" His boss asked as he walked into the changing room, his hands moving swiftly over his tie, tying it together effortlessly.

"What? I'm not allowed to be in a good mood?" He asked, zipping up his oil stained overall.

Quatre smiled. "Sure, but you look like you won the lottery."

"Naw, I just ran into... an old friend yesterday."

"That's nice."

Duo got up and pulled his hair out from inside the overall. "Yeah, we talked, straightened out some old crap that we had lying around."

"It sounds like you feel like a new man." Quatre teased lightly, as he took his suit jacket out of his locker.

"Yeah." Duo nodded seriously. "I just might be." He shook his head over the sentimentality before closing his locker. "Anyway, do you think anyone would mind if I invited my friend over for the food night?"

The blond shook his head. "Go ahead, I don't mind, and I have a hard time believing that Heero or Trowa would have anything against it."

"Cool." He said, feeling happy that he was going to get the chance to prove his new cooking skills for Meilan... Wufei... whatever.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

That evening, Duo opened the door for a very stressed looking Wufei. "Sorry I'm late. I got held back at work." Wufei apologized as Duo stepped back to let him in.

Duo laughed, closing the door behind him. "Only by ten minutes, Jesus, don't worry about it."

"You know I hate being late."

"Control freak."

"Always." The Asian sighed as he took his jacket off, hanging it up on the wall with everyone else's.

Duo frowned. "You look nervous." He said softly, recognizing the well-hidden signs.

"A bit." Wufei acknowledged.

"They are all nice guys. Heero might come of as a bit cold but he's not." He reassured him quietly, his protective instinct rising like fire. Meilan had never needed anyone to protect her, but he couldn't help but try.

Wufei just nodded as Duo put a hand on his shoulder and steered him into the living room.

"Everyone, this is Wufei, the guy I was telling you about. Wufei these are the guys." He nodded his head over at the men lounging around the room. "That's Quatre," Duo said, pointing at the blond. "He's the one who desperately tries to boss us around, just because he signs our paychecks."

"Fuck you, Duo." Was the playful response coming from the relaxed blond sitting on one of Duo's worn armchairs, tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"The tall guy is Trowa." The dark haired man nodded in greeting over the top of his newspaper. "And the fat guy is Heero."

Heero glared from where he was sitting on the couch, making no move to hide the slight stomach that was hanging just a little bit over the edge of his pants.

Wufei just nodded with a smile in greeting but Duo could tell that he was uncomfortable.

"I hope you didn't have any grand expectations, because this is it." He flicked one hand over the living room while using the other to discreetly squeeze the back of Wufei's neck, like he used to do, to remind her to relax her shoulders.

"Why do we put up with you, anyway?" Trowa sighed out into the air, putting the paper down in his lap.

"You just have to accept that he's kind of an asshole." Wufei responded, bumping Duo with his shoulder.

"Shut up." Duo gave Wufei a obviously fake glare as he gave him a slight shove in return.

Trowa nodded. "True, that and he is the one who's going to be feeding us." He gave Duo a pointed look.

Duo crossed his arms over his chest, giving his friend a challenging look. "I told you, it's in the oven."

"I don't trust you to leave the food out of your sight."

"God, you burn one pot of stew and suddenly you're a fire hazard." Duo complained, resting his elbow on Wufei's shoulder.

Wufei snorted.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear a word out of you." Duo ordered, poking the Asian's temple in warning.

Wufei leered. "What? You don't want them to know about the meatball-" Duo slapped a had over his ex's mouth, cutting him off.

"That's it, no more out of you and- eww, licking? Wufei, seriously, how old are you?" Duo grimaced and pulled his hand away.

"I play dirty, you know that."

Duo rolled his eyes as he dried his hand off against his pants.

"My, my. I do believe Duo have found his match." Trowa chuckled.

Wufei shrugged with a laugh. "You just have to learn to give as good as you get, that way he doesn't dare to go too far."

"Interesting."Trowa leered, a slow evil one that gave Duo feeling of doom.

He decided to escape into the kitchen.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Dinner was almost ready and Duo started to prepare the salad. Rock music was pumping loudly from the living room and he could hear Wufei's voice together with the rest of the guys every now and then between the songs. He was very happy that Wufei seemed to be getting along great with the guys, especially Trowa, who's sarcastic humor seemed to appeal to the Asian. Duo almost felt like a proud mother on her son's first day of school.

He whistled along to the refrain as he got the vegetables out of the refrigerator, wondering if his ex would notice that he had a copy of just about every CD Wufei had ever bought. When he first started buying them he tried to convince himself that he was doing it because Meilan had a great taste in music, but by the tenth album, he knew that he just missed her.

He smiled as he heard Wufei laugh during a brief pause in a guitar solo. He was happy to at least partly have Meilan back in his life. He really had missed her.

He mouthed along to the lyrics, feeling more then a little nostalgic. The angry electro-rock album that they were playing right now was the same one that they put on a tape to play in the car on their first vacation together. They had been so happy back then. Young, free, in love.

He hardly noticed when Quatre walked in and leaned against the counter. "So,**" **Duocould tell he was picking his words carefully. "What's up with you and this Wufei guy?"

Duo looked up from the chopping board with a confused look. "What?"

Quatre took a sip from his beer bottle. "How long have you known each other?"

"Well, we haven't seen each other for along time, but before that, about five years."

"Just acquaintances or..."

"No, no. We were," Duo thought fast.** "**Really good friends. Yeah, great friends. We..." He searched for an explanation that would be close enough to what they had. "We used to share an apartment."

"Really?"

Duo nodded as he lifted the chopping board up so that he could push the lettuce pieces into a glass bowl before lining up the tomatoes.

"How did that work out? You seem to be pretty different from each other."

"Yeah." Duo laughed slightly, thinking back to the apartment they used to live in and the life they used to have. The knife danced over bright red vegetables as his eyes took a far away expression."We used to have the biggest arguments over everything, and I mean -everything-."

Quatre laughed, motioning for him to go on.

Duo smiled fondly as he chopped. "Stuff like, who did the laundry the last time, who's turn it was to clean the bathroom, what food we were supposed to eat, who drank the last of the milk. Everything could be the start of a fight." He pushed the tomato pieces into the bowl before moving on to the next.

"That most have been tough."

"It was mostly just for fun. And the fights that weren't... well, it made the make up sex even better, so who cares." Duo snickered, cutting a tomato in half.

Quatre choked on his beer. "Duo! A- are you gay?" He rasped out between his coughing.

"What?! No!" Duo denied violently, almost cutting his thumb off as he lost his grip on the knife.

"You just told me that you've slept with him!" Quatre argued.

"Well Wufei wasn't-" He cut himself off forcefully. No. No-no-no-no. He was not going to betray Meilan by telling her secret like this. She was working so hard to fit in where no one knew her history. He was not going to put her through knowing looks, rumors and God knows what else, just because he couldn't keep track of his tongue. He made this mess and he was going to take care of it. He owed it to her.

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm gay, or not gay." He tried to find the right words. "Just slightly gay, M- Wufei is the only exception."

"Holy shit. So," Quatre nervously rolled the bottle between his hands. "Are you guys like... together or something?"

"Oh, eh, no... " Duo desperately tried to figure out what to say. "We used to be, but we broke up."

"Oh." Quatre squirmed awkwardly. "So you're like... into guys, like that?"

"No! Fuck no. Man, believe me, your ass is safe. Don't worry about it."

The blond relaxed noticeably. "Good." There was a moment of silence. "Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, I'm totally cool with it. It doesn't bother me at all."

If Duo himself wasn't so bothered by the whole conversation, he would have laughed at his friends desperate denial. "Okay, man, I get it."

"So are you going to tell the others?"

Duo shrugged, wondering just how he was going to handle this whole 'coming out' thing.

"Eh, I don't know... but on the other hand I don't believe for a second that –_you_- wont tell them."

The blond looked sheepish and Duo suppressed a sigh.

Quatre really was the last person you would ask to keep a secret. The guy couldn't lie and he loved to gossip.

He was so screwed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Come on, please review. Remember, reviews inspire and inspiration makes authors _update faster_. So pleeeeeease review.

To Kayya (I'm really impressed that you review every single chapter I write, not to mention grateful. Thank you.) BigSister2 (The fact that you are not a 2x5x2 fan and still read it is really a great compliment. I hope you'll get brainwashed XD) Mongose ( See? I didn't make Heero evil… he's glaring a bit but he's not evil. I'll see what I can do about Duo the neko :) I'm going to try)

Oh, and for those who wanted to know. The next chapter of My Dark Eyed Wallflower is still in the hands of my beta reader. The poor girl doesn't have much free time right now but as soon as she does, there will be an update.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

* * *

He didn't tell Wufei what had happened in the kitchen that evening, since he did not want to get publicly thrashed... like he been too many times in the past. His ex had a temper, not to mention a mouth that made you want to run and hide. But Duo wasn't one to lie, so when Wufei asked why Quatre was acting so strange during dinner, he hastily told him that he would tell him later.

And he was. Any second now... as soon as he managed to find his backbone.

Duo really dreaded it but he picked up his phone and pushed the number in. There were two rings, before a voice answered.

"Chang."

Duo played nervously with a magnet on the refrigerator. "Hey, it's me."

"Duo, what's up?"

Duo steeled himself against Meilan's notorious anger. "I might have accidentally told Quatre that you were gay."

"What?! Duo, why did you tell him that? I specifically told you not to!"

Duo crinkled. "I kind of slipped, just a little bit. But Quatre picked it up and he kind of forced it out of me."

"God, I can't believe you!" Wufei growled.

"Well at least I didn't tell him about the whole sex change thing!" He tried to defend himself.

"Could you be any fucking louder, I don't think they heard you in Tibet!" Wufei growled. "Fuck, this is so like you, you can never keep your fucking mouth shut!"

"I did! Well, not at first, but I did my best, not to mention that they all think -I'm- gay now."

"You egotistical fuck! Cry me a god damned river you -_asshole_-." With that, Wufei hung up.

Dropping his phone on the counter, Duo proceeded to slam his head into the refrigerator door.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Standing outside Wufei's apartment, Duo made himself ready. Feet in a starting position, his palms sweaty on the doorframe and his mouth dry, as he listened after sounds coming from the other side.

As soon as the apartment door swung open, Duo quickly jumped in before Wufei could slam it in his face, like Meilan used to do with their bedroom door whenever he had done something to piss her off.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked as he turned to look at his ex.

Wufei glared. Duo took it as a yes.

He decided that there were only one thing to do. He pouted and put on the puppy eyes. "I'm really sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."

"It's never on purpose, but you still manage to fuck up." Wufei growled, but Duo could see his shoulders dropping slightly. This tactic almost always worked on Meilan. He just needed to wait for the sigh of defeat before she would smile and forgive him.

Duo hunched over, making himself look small and ashamed. "Sorry." He said softly as he looked up at Wufei through his bangs.

Wufei sighed and closed the door. "I should have known that you couldn't keep your mouth shut." The man smiled a hardly noticeable smile, the smile Meilan always gave him when he had done something stupid that she couldn't help but find cute. Duo's heart jumped.

"So, how did you get him to think you were gay?"

"I- uhm, kind of accidentally told him that we slept together."

Wufei laughed. "Only you Duo, only you could manage to get yourself in a situation like that."

Duo tried to feel insulted, but he was too happy to be forgiven. "Yeah, yeah. Come on, I'll buy you some pizza. It always makes me feel better" He offered, knowing that he was more or less inviting himself to dinner by suggesting it.

"Absolutely not, but I was planning to make fish nuggets, there should be enough for the both of us." Wufei said as he walked past him towards the kitchen. Duo grinned as he followed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Just a short chapter today. The next will be posted on Friday. I wish I could answer all the wonderful review people left me but it's five a clock in the morning and not only do I have to leave for work soon, my brain is just too tired to think in English :(

Please review and I promise to do better on Friday.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six  


* * *

"Okay, so let's get started." Duo said, slapping his hands together.

Wufei gave him a uncertain look as he squirmed. They were standing in the middle of Duo's living room, about to start their first lesson in Wufei's journey towards manhood.

"One of the key rules as a guy is to take up a lot of space. Whether you walk, talk or sit." He demonstrated by sitting down on the couch, legs spread wide and an arm up over he back of the couch. "Don't keep your legs together and whatever you do, don't cross them. Plant your feet on the ground, not as wide as you can, but close. Give your balls some space..." He thought for a second about what he just said. "Or you know - "

Wufei cut him off. "I have balls Duo."

"Right... moving on. Sit down, would you." Duo motion him towards the seat next to him.

Wufei sat down, legs wide. Duo eyed the other man's stiff back. "Move your ass a bit further out. It makes you look more relaxed plus it... uhm, hard to explain but it makes you feel tougher then you are, kind of like a feeling of security."

Wufei moved further out before leaning back. "Ah, I see your point."

"Yeah, it's not about what you are, it's about how people see you."

Wufei nodded, putting his arm up next to Duo's on top of the couch. Their fingers brushed slightly, making Duo pull back quickly.

"So, moving on to walking." Duo got to his feet. "Put a lot of weight on your feet when you walk." He demonstrated by walking back and forth in front of the couch. "Always walk like you know where you are going, don't move your hips, keep your back straight, and your shoulders either back or very relaxed."

Wufei's eyes followed Duo, his head moving like he was watchinga tennis game.

"Don't back down, don't automatically move out off the way when someone comes in your way, especially for other men."

Wufei opened his mouth as if to say something, but Duo went on.

"It's about establishing your status. If you make eye contact with another man you have two options, ether stare back until he backs down or look away like you couldn't care less about him."

Wufei leaned forward, leaning his chin against his hand. "I'm starting to wonder how men even manage to stay alive."

Duo snickered. "Well, you're about to find out. Okay, walk from here over to the kitchen and back."

Wufei got up and did as he was told.

As he got back, Duo nodded. "That works, you actually walk pretty masculinely already."

Wufei snorted, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he gave Duo a twisted smile. "So I've been told. Hell, you've seen me try to walk in heels."

Duo chuckled. "Point taken. Hey, another thing that I just noticed," Duo reached out and tapped Wufei on the hip. "You need to stop leaning on your hip when you stand. It makes you look feminine."

Wufei blinked and looked down. "Oh." He replied in surprise before putting his weight on both his feet. "Never thought about that."

"Sometimes it's the small things that gives it way." Duo smiled. "But I think that if you just believe that you're male, others will believe ittoo."

Wufei rubbed his hands against his jeans. "I hope so. I just really want to get my life rolling. It feels like it's been on hold for a long time now."

"You'll get it, don't worry. If there's one thing I've learned from living with you it's that you can do anything you put your mind in to."

Wufei smiled gently. "Thank you, I - " The other man licked his lips. "I really appreciate this."

"No problem."

"So, what's next? Any more brilliant tips that you can share?"

Duo tilted his head with a small frown, thinking hard. "You speak a little... I don't know how to explain it. Your voice is deep enough but when you finish a sentence, you kind of lift the end up a bit. Men tend to talk a bit moremonotone."

Wufei lifted an eyebrow. "Okay...how did you become such an expert on gender anyway?"

Duo shrugged. "Mom played a guy in some Shakespeare play a few years ago. She kind of practised around the house. It was kind of freaky, because I think that's the most she has ever payed attention to me and it was just to copy how I moved and so on."

A cold expression came over Wufei's face. "I'm really not so fond of your mother."

Duo snorted. "I think you have made that very clear years ago. She hates your guts too."

"She's a bitch."

"She's not."

Wufei snorted and gave him a look like he couldn't believe he just said that.

Duo sighed in defeat. "Oh, fine. Yes she can be a bitch, but it wasn't like you didn't encourage her."

"Like she needed to be encouraged." The shorter man grunted. "She's a control freak that can't handle that other people have a mind of their own."

"Well, you really did everything to piss her off. Remember that party she had, when she had that hissy fit cause you showed up in a suit jacket, even after she told you not to?"

"How could I forget? She tried to put me in a goddamn dress!"

Duo broke out in a loud laughter.

"What?" Wufei questioned.

"At the time I didn't really get the big deal, but now," Duo snorted in laughter.

Wufei's lip twitched. "Yeah, well then you can imagine how I felt when she held out that pink frilly monstrosity that she wanted me to wear."

"Oh god, I remember thinking 'Meilan is going to kill her' when she got it out."

"I just might have, it was awful."

Duo grinned. "You would have looked like a cupcake."

"Yeah, one seriously pissed off cupcake."

They smiled at each other, bonding over the memory and the mental picture. But the moment past as if they both realized just how close they were standing and how the familiarity of it all was affecting them, making them forget why they were there. Awkwardly, they gravitated away from each other.

Wufei cleared his throat, crossing his arms in front of him. "Anything else?"

"Um, handshakes are pretty important." Duo held his hand out, waiting for Wufei to take it.

There was a brief hesitation before their hands meet with the soft sound of skin on skin. Wufei's marginally smaller hand settled in his, grasping him firmly.

Duo looked down, taking a second to really look at Wufei's hand. It looked and felt a lot more masculine then they did before. Soft, dark hair on the back of his hands, short well kept nails. Palms slightly rough and dry in a way that made you think of someones father.

"Well?" Wufei asked, waiting for the judgement.

A strange feeling of denial rushed through him. This wasn't Meilan, this couldn't possibly be her. Duo wanted to pull away, he wanted to leave. He wanted Meilan back so that he could hug her tightly and forget about this, about Wufei, about the last three years, just make it all go away. Instead he forced himself to answer.

"Good, yeah, it's good handshake." He took a quick breath, feeling cold sweat break out on his back. "It's firm enough, but not too firm. You don't want it to be a competition." Duo's mind was spinning, trying to concentrate on what he wanted to say when all he could think about was how Meilan's hands used to felt against his skin. "You might want to press your thumb in just a bit, not too much, just like a pressure. Don't pump your hand, just let it be one strong movement."

Wufei pressed his thumb into the side of his hand, tightening his hand just a little bit. "So, do you think I'll pass now?"

If he didn't look Wufei in the eyes, he might just forget that the man in front of him was once a girl**. **And not just any girl, his girl.

"I think you will do just fine." He said, trying not to meet those eyes, but failing tremendously. Meilan's eyes were smiling along with Wufei's lips, warming him from the inside, at the same time as it left him strangely cold.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Man, people lost interest in this story fast XD

The first two chapters got great responses but after that… -shakes head with a sigh-

Maybe people didn't like where I was taking the storyline? Hmm, if you don't plan on reading the rest of this, or if the story isn't living up to your expectations please tell me. I might be able to improve my writing if I just knew what I needed to change.

Well, anyway. For those of you who are still here, I am very grateful.

Oh, and I finally have the time to answer the earlier reviews that I didn't have the time to respond to before. Sorry for the delay.

_Kichikoneko_ – Fun and games? No, probably not XD. There might be angst, but a happy ending is on it's way. I hope you'll like it :) _Mongose_ – Language? –grin- Sweetheart, you would just have loved that chapter before my beta told me that she thought it was a bit too rough. What I posted was the censured version :) Oh, and never underestimate the power of the puppy eyes. You make your eyes big and sad, like the world is ending because the person in front of you isn't doing what you want them to (extra point is you can get some tears to fall). Then if they try to escape, you let out a low whine, like an abandoned puppy. Throw in a couple of "pleeease" in the saddest voice you can accomplish. In my experience it will take 5 to 15 seconds before they surrender. It works excellent if you want breakfast in bed XD _Bigsister2_ –I'm just going to work extra hard on the whole brain washing thing. I will succeed! Any insider tips on what I should do to win you over? :) Oh, and the reason why I have been able to update as much as I have been is because I first of all has a fantastic beta and second of all, because I'm more or less un-employed (Again! Damn cutbacks!) so I have a lot of free time on my hands. _Pattyard_ – Well, the reason I gave Heero a bit of a belly is because he is not a soldier, he is a computer geek with lousy eating habits :) _Shan Chan_ – Well I.. umm -Blushes- th-thank you –grins like an idiot- That was quite the compliment. I honestly don't know what to say. Just, thank you. And to answer your question, I thought about writing something original but I just never got around to it. But considering that I have been thinking about it non-stop since you suggested it, I might just have to find the courage to try. _Kayya_ – So right you were. Thank god Duo had those puppy eyes XD _Reniee Maxwell_ – Oh yes, Quatre will tell. He just can't help himself :) and Heero got fat on microwave dinners. Those things are evil. _Bryony_ – Thank you, yes Quatre does have a habit of always being the understanding, nice guy. I like giving him faults :) Shyalchemist – Thank you :) I hope you liked the chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

It didn't take more than a week for Duo to figure out that Meilan was a lot calmer as a man. It really should have been the other way around with all the testosterone flowing around, but it wasn't. She was not as easy to anger as before, and for that he was thankful.

As long as he had known her, Meilan had always been on the move. Always upset over something or someone. If it wasn't the state of the rain forests, it was repression of women, or their next door neighbor. He knew more then a few people that called her "the lesbian bitch" behind her back.

Wufei, on the other hand, might have a temper, but only if you did something wrong or annoyed him. He wasn't as angry with the world as Meilan had been; he seemed to bemore at peace.

'His whole presence is pretty calming.' Duo thought to himself as he sank down a little deeper in Wufei's couch with a wide yawn. They were watching some kind of historical romance thing on TV. The kind of movie that men did not watch. At least, that was what he tried to convince Wufei of. But the other man had just told him that he was a gay man and therefore, he could watch whatever he wanted.

In the end they decided that Duo would get to watch what he wanted as soon as this sentimental shit was over. He tried to pay attention, he really did. But somewhere halfway into the movie, he got bored and couldn't even try to pretend to know what was going on. There were some pretty hot women in it, but since it was a historical movie they were wearing too many clothes. He did pay attention when the main character decided to go skinny dipping, but three short minutes later it was over and Duo went back to his half-sleeping state.

When the guy who 'skinny dipping girl' was into, finally got shot to the sound of heartbreaking violins, Duo was ready to cheer in happiness.

He looked over at Wufei who's eyes were suspiciously red. "Not one word." Wufei grumbled.

"Wouldn't dream of it, princess, Aw! Shit, don't hit me." Duo complained, rubbing the spot on his arm that Wufei punched.

"You are an asshole." Wufei grumbled.

"I know, but I'm that lovable kind of asshole that you can't help but like." Duo said, comicallyfluttering his eyelashes.

Wufei mumbled something under his breath as he reached for the remote. Duo decided not to question. Wufei might be calmer then Meilan, but he punched harder.

Wufei rubbed his eyes in what he clearly thought was a discreet move. "So, what are we watching now?"

"Channel 5, 'Speed Track 4' is onin ten minutes." Duo replied happily.

"'Speed Track 4'? Please tell me that is not the name of the movie." The other man begged.

Duo picked up the TV guide lying next to him on the couch. "Hmm, 'Speed Track 4: Revenge of the Dragon Clan' Yep, that's the name of it."

Wufei groaned loudly. "God, I can' believe you."

"Hey! You just made me sit through almost two hour of 'Courting Countess Skinny Dip.'

"It's 'The Summer Courting of Lady Everfield' and it's based on a true story."

"Ah, that explains why it was so fucking boring."

"Yeah, because if something doesn't blow up every five minutes, it's not worth watching."

"Exactly." He said just because he knew it would piss him off.

Wufei glared. "Now I remember why we never watched movies together, because your taste in moviessucks."

"Careful there Meilan, your estrogen is showing." Duo teased.

"Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I don't have any taste in movies."

"Taste? Boring taste maybe."

"Because 'Speed Track 4' is such a interesting and meaningful movie." Wufei was looking more and more annoyed and Duo couldn't help but wind him up. If was just too much fun to argue with his ex, it always had been. "Who cares about that when you can have fast cars and half-naked women?"

Wufei responded by raising his fist. Duo who had been expecting it, dove to the side, making him hit the couch. Dark eyes blazed at him as he laughed.

"Oh, now you're going to get it." Wufei growled and made a grab for him.

Laughing he managed to get out of Wufei's grip and jumping over the side of the couch. He landed clumsily, barely managing to stay on his feet. Wufei took advantage of the slip and jumped him, making the couch pillows fly. They landed in a heap on the floor, rolling around, as they both tried to get the upper hand. Duo couldn't for the life of him stop laughing and it didn't take long before Wufei wrestled him down on his stomach with his arms trapped behind his back. Feeling like one of those calves that rodeo cowboys caught with a lasso, Duo wiggled helplessly under the other man.

"Okay, okay I give." He laughed, trying to keep his face off the floor.

" What do I get?" Wufei asked, pressing himself heavier against his back.

"Um. You are not getting out of 'Speed Track 4', that's for sure." Duo declared, putting his chin down on the wooden floor.

"Oh really now, so if I put my fingers here." Wufei pressed the tips of his fingers into Duo's side, making him screech in laughter. "What do I get?" He asked, wiggling his fingers.

Duo laughed so hard his eyes were tearing up. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Foot massage! I'll give you a foot massage!" He yelled, using his usual bribe when it came to Meilan.

"Hmm." Wufei breathed against his ear. "Let me think about it."

Duo screamed in laughter as Wufei's fingers moved in under his shirt and down over his hip.

"A foot massage foras long as I want to, with massage oil and... " Wufei thought for a second, totally ignoring Duo's desperate laughter. "And I get to pick the movie the next time we do this."

"Ah! Yes! Yes! Anything, just stop!" Duo gasped as the fingers stopped tickling him and Wufei rolled off him. For a moment he simply laid there on the floor, gasping with his arms and legs spread wide.

"Your movie is starting." Wufei said, as a upbeat intro song started playing in the background.

"Ju- just gi- give me a se- second." He panted.

"Sure. Do you have any massage oil?"

"N- no."

"I'll get some cooking oil then." Wufei replied as he stepped over him and walked towards the kitchen.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Please review. Please?

Ah, the irony. I told Bigsister2 just last week, that the reason why I could update two times a week was because I was unemployed, so guess what, I suddenly have work up over my ears.

So, from now on updates will most likely only be on Fridays.

And I can't believe so many people left me reviews, I love you all.

_**Tallia**_ – The fact that you left a review at all is actually worth a lot. Don't worry, I'm not giving up, that I can promise you :) _**Bigsister2**_ – Thank you, that was really nice to hear. Oh, and the brain washing. I think I can share you with the other parings, it's ok XD. I don't know how much the rest of the guys are going to appear but Quatre will not be able to keep his nose out off it. Hm, You wanted kissing? Hmm, I'll see what I can do. _**Pippin32388**_ – Ah, lazy people, those I can understand XD, I feel proud that you managed to concur your laziness to review. I'm glad you like the story _**Becca-Chan'05**_ – Still intrigued? :) _**Lady butterfly3**_ – I tried to give Duo a blow up scene but he just ended up sounding like a spoiled five year old who lost a toy. Sorry, there will be more fluff then anger in this story. But everything will not fall into place right away, so don't worry about that. _**Spider jen**_ – I'm glad you like it jen. _**señorita luna**_ – Deal? Hell yes that is a deal. But seriously, don't feel forced to review. I you don't feel like saying anything you don't have to. But on the other hand you can just drop a line to say hi, that is always appreciated. _**Kichikoneko**_ – You are so right, we are moving slowly, but we are moving. It would have been easier if Duo had just accepter Wufei. I've felt like kicking Duo on several occasions with a "get over it and be happy god damn it!" In time he will be because I'm sure as hell not writing an un-happy ending. _**Halas**_ – Thank you and I'll do my very best :) _**Shyalchemist**_ – I'm happy that you like the cupcake think, then I don't have to feel so stupid for giggling over it when I wrote it. I just kept seeing Wufei, with his sword and justice rants, wearing one of Relena's dresses. _**Lydia**_ – Thank you, I'm really glad that you like it. Your words made me all warm and happy :) _**Tanin**_ – They will get together in the end, believe me, I could never write an un-happy ending. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did LOL_**Ivy**_–Thank you for your encouraging words, they made my day :) I'll try to make the chapters longer. I can't promise anything but I'll try :)_**Shekinaah**_ – I'm glad to know that you are here and reading, thank you for reviewing, especially since you don't trust your English. I totally understand, because I feel the same. I'm getting better but even when I'm writing this I keep thinking "Is this right? Does this work? And what the hell is "önskedröm" in English? So I feel your pain._**Shan Chan**_ – Damn, your reviews are a pleasure to read. I'm very thankful that you took the time to write it :) There isn't going to be much "quick drama" and so on. I'm going to get to the end in my own speed… which usually goes Slow-slow-slow-QUICK!-the end. LOL _**DeceptivInnocenceXIII**_ – Oh god! Now I keep seeing Wufei dancing around in a tutu LOL! Glad to know you are still with me :) _**Kayya**_ – Yeah, considering the subject there should be more angst, but I'm in such a fluffy mode that there will most likely be very little angst. I'm happy that you like it anyway :) _**Hittocerebattosai **_– That's a lot of reviews, I'm impressed. I'm trilled that you like the story so much and I hope you'll keep liking it just as much later on. I haven't read the Luna book, but I just might have to find it. It's an interesting subject._** Rosedream**_ – Huh, never thought of that, that might be one of the reasons, thank you :)_**Skean Dhu**_ – I'm glad to hear that you are not going anywhere. Have no fear, they will be together in the end. That is the only thing I know for sure. Thank you for your fantastic review.


	8. Chapter 8

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Chapter Eight

Duo took a quick break from the rusty engine that he had been trying to dissect for the last four hours, to get himself some coffee. The break room was empty and he breathed out a small sigh in relief as the door closed behind him, shutting out the noise from the workshop.

The coffee was old and barely warm, but Duo didn't feel particularly fastidious. He just got his black mug out of the sink and poured the matching sluggish fluid in it. Sinking down on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, he tried to relax his tense shoulders. He had been holding his arms up over his head in an awkward position, trying, but failing, to loosen some rusty bolts. He absently rubbed his aching muscles with his free hand as he sipped the coffee.

He lifted his eyes to look over at the door as it opened. Quatre walked in, wearing a oil-stained overalls, much like the one he was wearing himself.

"Hey, how's the Chevrolet going?" The blond asked as he walked over to the coffee pot.

Duo sighed. "Not good, I don't know how much of it I'm going to be able so save."

"Just do your best." His boss said as he went over to the cupboards. "Are you coming over to watch the game?"

Duo shrugged, tipping his mug back and fort as he watched the dark liquid hit the sides of it. "I don't know, I don't really give a shit about football."

"You could still watch it." Quatre pointed out, getting his own mug off the draining board.

"I guess."

Quatre seemed to hesitate for a short moment with his hand on the coffee pot. "Do you think Wufei would like to come?"

"Maybe, he was always fond of football. I'll ask him after work, he's going to pick me up."

"You've been seeing each other a lot these last few weeks." Quatre remarked.

Duo smiled behind the rim of his mug. "Yeah, he's a great guy."

"So are you guys on again, or what?"

Duo just looked at him in confusion.

Quatre awkwardly scratched his chin. "You and Wufei. Are you getting back together?"

Duo spit his coffee out on the table. "What?! No! Absolutely not, why would you think that? Because we're not."

"It's just that you are touching a awful lot." Quatre pointed out.

He shook his head. "We're not, and I'm always touching people, I'm a touchy-feely guy. You know that."

"Yeah, but not the way you touch him."

"I don't." Duo grumbled as he dried the table with the sleeve of his overalls.

"Yes, you do. You always have a hand on his shoulder or leaning against him."

"No I don't." Duo denied stubbornly.

Quatre gave him a skeptical look. "Whatever. I still think something is going on."

Duo quietly muttered about stupid blonds as he got up to turn his back on Quatre before he went back to work.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hey Wufei, Q wanted to know if you are coming over to watch the playoff." Was the first thing Duo said as he climbed into Wufei's small fire-red Audi.

"Well my team is playing so, yeah sure." Wufei gave him a amused leer. "I'm guessing that you're not going, since it's football."

Duo shrugged, trying to fit his legs into the small space. "It's a boring sport, but I could watch it. If not for the game, for the company."

"I haven't seen you that much this week so it would be nice." Wufei said as he changed gear.

"Aw, did you miss me?" Duo teased, ignoring that he had been thinking the same. As Wufei got more responsibilities at work, he also got less free time.

"For some strange reason, yes. I must be brainwashed from spending too much time with you."

"That was my evil plan all along." Duo rubbed his hands together with a teasing grin.

Wufei gave him a sideways look. "Please stop, you look like Jiang when you do that."

"I look like your fourteen year old sister?" he mock glared.

"She's eighteen."

"Seriously?" He did the math in his head. "Shit, little Jiang is eighteen."

Wufei rolled his eyes.

Duo thought for a second as he watched their surroundings pass by. "Hey, What did your sisters say when they found out they had a brother?"

Wufei took a right turn before he answered. "Well they were pretty shocked, that's for sure. Oh! Yuen had a pretty funny reaction."

"Yeah?"

Wufei grinned. "I'm going to tease her over it for years to come."

Duo turned in his seat, waiting with glee to here what Wufei's oldest sister said to get this kind of reaction.

Wufei's eyes were bright as he started to tell the story. "She was quiet for a long moment, looking pretty shocked. Then her face froze up, like she got the worst thought possible, then she just -screamed- 'I'm not changing in the same room as you ever again!' with this total look of -horror- on her face."

Duo tipped his head back as he laughed. "She said that?"

Wufei grinned, his eyes flickering back and forth between the road and Duo. "Yeah, apparently it was no big deal to suddenly have a brother, but to have a brother who had seen you in the nude, that was something completely different."

Duo snickered. "And then you were like 'No – no, I'm gay, really, I promise.'"

"Hell no, I told her that she really wasn't much to look at anyway, so she didn't have to worry."

"You didn't!" Duo gapped in amusement, pushing Wufei's shoulder.

Wufei smiled triumphantly. "Sure did. Man, you should have seen her face. If she had a knife, it would have ended up in my chest, right then."

"You are so mean." Duo accused teasingly.

"I'm the oldest, it's my job."

Duo shook his head over Wufei's family dynamic. Meilan's mother was just sixteen when she had Meilan. Apparently, they had some kind of a shotgun weeding. It was a pretty crazy thought, since Meilan's parents were the healthiest couple he'd ever met. They didn't have any more children until after they moved from China, five years later. So by the time Meilan had her first sibling, she was fully capable of teasing her younger sister, something she probably would do to her dying breath.

"So, how are your sisters?"

Wufei shrugged as he sped past a changing traffic light. "Good, I guess. They're all doing well in school the last I heard."

Duo gave Wufei a long look. "I seriously never thought that you could ever move away from town and your family. So, how is it to be away from them?"

"Well, I miss them, but still... it's pretty good. You know how Mom is. She more or less moved in after we broke up, then, when I started with the treatment, she got even worse. She hardly let me leave the apartment alone after the surgery. Don't get me wrong, it was great to have her there to help me with the things I couldn't do myself, but she just..."

"Treats you like you're five years old." Duo filled in.

"Yeah, pretty much. God, she was the worst after I got the phalloplasty because I could barely get out of bed for weeks. I thought I was going to lose my mind, having her dote on me non-stop. I decided, that as soon as I was up on my feet again, I was moving."

"Phalloplasty?"

"Penis surgery." Wufei brought a hand up to demonstrate. "They take the skin they need for the actual penis fr-"

"Stop! Didn't I tell you not to tell me those things?" Duo crinkled, pushing himself back against the car door, legs pressed tightly together.

Wufei rolled his eyes with a sigh. "You are so squeamish."

Duo crossed his arms. "Am not, I just don't want to know."

"Then I guess you don't want to know what they did with my uterus?"

"NO!" Duo screamed in horror. Wufei laughed evilly, ignoring Duo's glare. "Not funny."

"You should have seen your face!" Wufei laughed.

"Now who's the asshole?"

Wufei just kept laughing, ignoring his pouting.

Duo looked out the window, noticing that they were driving through a old neighborhood with mostly big, Victorian houses. "So, where are we going anyway?"

Wufei took a second to calm down before answering. "I found an ad for a 17thcentury sofa, and if I buy it I'm going to need you to help me carry it."

Duo looked around the small car. "And where exactly do you plan on putting it? You can hardly fit me in this miniature thing, nevermind a sofa."

"That's a problem for later. If nothing else, I know this guy with a pick-up truck." Wufei turned to him with a sweet smile, fluttering his eyelashes.

Duo cringed with a painful grin. "Oh man, that is just so wrong with anfive a'clock shadow. Seriously Mei, never do that again."

"What, you don't want to ride in like a knight in your big shiny truck?" Wufei asked in a high pitched voice while making his eyes big and clueless.

"You are really freaking me out now." Duo faked a shudder. "You couldn't pull off the damsel in distress act before, now it just makes you look high. You're not high are you?" Duo leaned forward, pretending to check Wufei's pupils.

Wufei shoved him away with a laugh. "No, you asshole."

"Are you sure? No strange looking mushrooms in your lunch box or something?"

The other man shook his head, eyes back on the road. A piece of dark hair escaped from the tight pony tail and Duo restrained himself from pushing it in behind that delicate ear like he used to do on Meilan.

"So, what's up with you today?" He asked instead, turning his eyes to the old wooden houses outside.

Wufei shrugged. "Nothing, just having a good day. Work was a breeze, found the ad, you - ." Wufei cut himself off with a obviously fake cough. "It's a nice day."

Duo grinned, relaxing back against the worn seat as he drummed his knee against the cheep plastic dashboard.

It didn't take long before Wufei started to slowed down, announcing that they had arrived. They came to a stop in front of a big white and pale yellow house. Big rose bushes grew in front of it, climbing up the wooden walls. A path made of polished stones led up to it from the other side of the white picket fence. Together, they left the car and walked over to the large white door. Wufei pressed the doorbell.

They heard slow foot steeps coming closer.

The door opened and a old man, the type of man you would describe as an old time gentlemen, appeared. The thin white hair was carefully combed back, and he worebrown ironed pants with a matching vest on top of a elegant white shirt. Duo didn't look down on his feet but he could just guess that he was wearing polished black shoes.

Pale blue eyes looked at them from behind thine framed glasses. "Yes?"

"Hello, we're here about the sofa." Wufei replied with a smile.

"Ah yes, please come in." The old man stepped out of the way to let them in.

"Thank you Mr..?"

"Tom, just Tom."

"I'm Wufei." He said holding his hand out. The man grasped it and Duo couldn't help but wonder if Wufei pressed his thumb in like he told him to. "And this is Duo."

Duo smiled and shook the old mans hand.

"Nice to meet you boys, the sofa is right this way."

They followed the man through a long corridor, up a flight of stairs and in through a pair of glass doors to a large sitting room. It felt like stepping into another world. Persian rugs all over the floor, heavy velvet curtains over the windows and antique furniture lining the walls. A big chandelier was hanging from the celling in the middle of the room, covering everything with a warm golden light. All Duo could do was just stare with wide eyes over it all, and in the corner of his eye, he could see Wufei doing the same. The both of them had always had something of a weakness for old furniture but since neither of them had any money, their apartment had not contained many pieces. They had a couple of chairs, an antique chest, a large china cabin and a flower stand. This room was way out of their league.

"There it is." The man said, pointing at the delicate looking furniture standing on the other side of the room.

They walked over to it, leaving the old man leaning against the door frame. The sofa was made in dark wood with smooth lines and carefully made details. The seat was in a rich, dark, royal red, unharmed from sunlight, since it was placed so far into the room.

Duo instantly adored it. The dark red texture matched the old rokoko chairs that he inherited from his grandmother perfectly. The wood on the chairs might be slightly darker, but not enough to be noticeable. The group would look great in the living room if they moved the TV further away and throw out that old armchair standing in the corner, exchanging it for the antique chest. All they needed now was a table and they had a perfect group.

...Only that it was not going to be standing next to his chairs because the sofa was going to be standing in Wufei's apartment. The realization could be compared with a cold shower, and Duo shook himself, turning his attention to Wufei who was squatted down at the right side of the sofa**.  
**

"There is some damage here." Wufei mumbled, showing Duo the lower edge.

Duo leaned down, putting a hand on Wufei's shoulder for balance as he reached past the other man to run his fingers over the thumbnail-sized piece missing. There were no larger cracks around it, just one clear break, like someone accidentally rammed something sharp into it.

"I can fix that, no problem." He announced with confidence. "I'll put in some filling and paint it over. You'llstill know that it's there, but I don't think anyone else will notice." Duo startled and removed his hand from Wufei when he felt muscles move under the palm of his hand. He was embarrassed for a second, remembering Quatre's words about always touching the other man, but it soon passed as Wufei spoke.

"Yeah, that might work." Wufei mumbles as he moved on, inspecting the rest of the sofa.

'I think we should take it' was on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back. 'They' were not going to do anything, Wufei was. Feeling awkward and out of place, Duo walked across the room, over to he old man who was still leaning back against the door frame. "So why are you selling it?" He asked casually as he came to a stop next to him.

"My wife died recently, and I'm moving to someplace smaller." Tom looked around the large parlor. "No point in staying here alone."

"Oh... I'm sorry for your loss." Duo said awkwardly.

"Thank you. I suppose it's all for the better. She was in a lot of pain towards the end and it must have been a relief for her to go." He took his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I found a apartment closer to our children, so I wont be alone." Tom laughed shortly. "To a degree anyway, but in the end no one can ever take her place." He put the glasses back on, staring blankly out into the air. "It's a strange thing, to think that you were going to spend the rest of your life together with one person, only to suddenly find yourself alone."

Duo flinched, crossing his arms tightly over his chest as he refused to look over at the other side of the room. Those words hit just a little bit too close to home.

"At first I didn't want to part from anything. Like keeping all of this - " He swept his hand over the antiques spread around the room " - would somehow make me feel closer to her."

Another thing Duo could understand. He still had a couple of Meilan's old shirts and a pair of her slippers hidden in a box under his bed, and that was just without going into his CD collection, and why he always had white chocolate lying around at home.

"Then, I wanted to get rid of everything so I wouldn't be reminded of her at every turn."

Those shirts had not always been lying in a box under the bed.

The old man shook his head sadly. "But I suppose that no matter what I do, she will always be in the back of my head. You can run from the past, but it has a strange way of catching up to you."

Duo glanced over at Wufei who was squatted down in front of the sofa, inspecting the slightly worn edge of the seat. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He said softly.

"Ah, forgive an old man for carrying on like this. I didn't mean bring up bad memories." He said, a sympathetic smile.

Duo shook his head. "My girl ... she didn't die, she just..." Duo didn't quite know what to say. "To make a long and complicated story short, we didn't work out."

The old man's face did not change, he just nodded. "You are still young. There might be someone else out there for you."

Duo smiled sadly. "Well, I hope so."

"Oh, trust me. Life goes on and if you are just ready to embrace it, everything will turn out well in the end."

The words made something awaken in Duo, because the last three years, he had not been ready to 'embrace' anything. He had been stuck, like everything in his life was frozen and he just lived, without being alive. But new times were around the corner, and it was time to move on now. Therewas no Meilan anymore, he knew this for sure now. It was time to let go and find someone new.

Duo smiled in triumph. Yeah, he was not going to be stuck in how things used to be, like a old man stuck in a house filled with memories. He was going to get out and find someone who was just as good as Meilan. He was going to go home, get ride of that box and move on with his life.

With this revelation running through his mind, he walked back to the still squatting Wufei. He bumped the man with his knee, making him tip over. Wufei glared up at him as he got to his feet but Duo just grinned. "So, are we getting it?"

Wufei ran a hand gently over the armrest. "Yeah, it's perfect."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N -

-sigh- poor oblivious Duo :)

I really should answer my wonderful reviews, but I'm tired and sick so… sorry I just can't get my brain to work right now :(


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

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"I need help." Was the first thing he said when Wufei picked up the phone.

"With what?"

"I don't know what to wear." Duo complained as he threw himself down on his bed, pouting at the celling.

"Since when do you care what you wear?" Wufei asked in surprise.

"Since Quatre sat me up on a blind date with his sister." He muttered defensively.

"... And you want -_me_- to help you choose clothes?"

Duo realized that this might not have been one of his greatest ideas. You really should not ask your ex**-**girlfriend, who you broke up with in a very bad way, to help you dress for a date with someone else. Never mind that your ex was a man now days, because that fact only made a difference for you, not for him.

"Never mind, sorry. I'll get it. I'll see you at Heero's place tomorrow. Bye." He was about to hang up when Wufei's voice stopped him.

"Wait! I'll help, just give me a second to finish an email and I'll be right over."

"Thanks Wufei."

"Don't worry about it, see you soon."

"Yeah." Feeling a lot better, he hung up. He look a look around his bedroom where he had spread out all the clothes that he tried out. With a sigh in relief he started to put them back. Wufei was going to fix this, there were no reason to worry.

This wasn't the first time Quatre tried to set him up with one of his many sisters, it was just the only time that he actually accepted. Meeting Wufei really helped him to realize that his life was missing something, or rather, someone. He needed to get out into the dating scene again and hopefully find someone.

It didn't take long before the doorbell rang. Hurrying over, he opened the door to a stylishly dressed Wufei.

Duo blinked, looking the man up and down. "Hey, what's up with the suit?"

Wufei gave him a strange look. " I'm a lawyer and I just got back from work."

"Oh, right. I just never seen you this dressed up... You look nice."

"Careful there Duo, your estrogen is showing." Wufei sing-songed as he walked past him towards his bedroom.

Duo grinned and followed.

"So, let's see what we got to work with." Wufei opened the doors of his wardrobe. After a lot of shuffling around, he turned around and gave him a disappointed look. "Have you bought one single piece of clothing since we broke up?"

Duo thought for a second. "Erh... maybe?"

"Well I can't find any." With a sigh he turned back to the wardrobe. "Where's the blue shirt that I gave you?"

It took Duo a few seconds before he could figure out what shirt he was talking about. "The sleeve ripped. I think that was while we were still together."

"No it wasn't, I would have noticed. Well, anyway," Wufei thought for a second. "Oh, maybe the tuxedo shirt. It might be a bit too fancy, but with a plain suit jacket it just might work." Wufei started looking through his shirts.

Duo crinkled, wondering if he should take cover behind something. "Ehm, Wu."

Wufei made a questioning sound in response as he searched.

"You won't find it."

Wufei stopped rifling around through the closet. "Why?"

"I might have accidentally gotten oil on it."

Wufei turned around with blazing eyes. "You took it out to the garage?! I specifically told you to never, ever wear that shirt anywhere near it!"

"I was just going to check something before I left and I kind of leaned against the engine just a little bit." Duo tried to explain.

"I can't believe you! That shirt was goddamn expensive and you decide to tinker with your car! Fucking unbelievable."

Duo decided to not even try to defend himself, knowing that it had been a pretty stupid thing to do in the first place.

Wufei let out a loud pained sigh like he couldn't believe that he was stuck in this situation, before turning back to the clothes. After shuffling some hangers around for a few moments, Wufei got a light blue shirt out. "It's a bit worn, but it will have to do. Try it on." He held out the shirt to him, only to pull it back with a curse.

"What?" Duo asked, wondering just what was wrong this time.

Wufei didn't answer, he just turned the shirt around, showing of the large brown burn mark on the back that was strangely enough shaped just like an iron.

Duo smiled sheepishly. "Oh... oops?"

Wufei closed his eyes as if praying for strength. "Get your shoes on, we are going shopping."

"What?! Why?"

"Because you have nothing to wear that doesn't look like it's falling apart or like it needs to be washed." Wufei told him as he shoved the blue shirt into the trash bin standing under his desk. "You asked for my help, you are getting it. Get your shoes on."

Duo sighed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei was just as much of a pain in the ass to take shopping as Meilan had been while they were dating, but he knew what he was doing. It didn't take them long before Wufei managed to pick out what he considered to be an acceptable outfit, plus a few more things that Duo apparently needed.

"Can we go now? Please?" Duo begged, his feet hurt and he was bored out of his mind.

"No, you need shoes."

"I have shoes."

Wufei gave him a look over his shoulder. "Believe me, you don't."

Duo groaned as he took a new grip on his plastic bags before following Wufei.

They ended up in a stylish looking shoe store in the so-called 'nicer' part of the shopping district. Duo could almost feel the money falling between his fingers as they stepped in through the door. He bit back a whimper when he saw the endless row of shoes.

Wufei payed him no mind as he dove right in to the swamp of footwear.

"Sit." Wufei ordered, pointing at a uncomfortable looking armchair.

Duo barely had time to do so before there were a long line of shoes waiting for him.

He pushed his feet down into the first pair. They were black and not too shiny. The size was right and they were as comfortable as one could expect from dress shoes.

"These are fine." He declared, taking the shoe off and reaching for his sneaker.

"Try the rest anyway."

"But these fit, why try the rest when I already know I'm going to get them?" Duo reasoned as he looked up at his frowning friend.

"There might be a better pair. Just do as I say, try the rest."

Duo had a flashback to when Meilan forced him to try out several used cars instead of buying the first that he liked. He did find one that he liked better, not to mention that he hear from a friend that the first car had droved right into the back of another car when the brakes suddenly stopped working.

Duo picked up the next pair of shoes.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It was very reluctantly that Duo admitted that Wufei had been right and that the tenth pair was far better then the first. Wufei was pleased, while Duo was just happy that they finally were done and he got to go home.

After making sure that Duo hung the clothes up instead of throwing them on the bed like he had been half a second away from doing, Wufei got ready to leave. "Right, I suppose you can dress yourself." He shrugged his suit jacket that he had left hanging in the hallway back on. "Have fun on your date and I'll see you tomorrow." Wufei turned towards the door

"Em, Wufei... I don't know how to tie this." Duo confessed, holding out the smooth dark blue tie that according to Wufei looked perfect with his eyes.

Wufei sighed with a small smile. "Of course you don't."

Wufei came up to him and took the tie from him. "If I instruct you, will you remember how to do it the next time?"

"Probably not." Duo shrugged helplessly.

"Another time then." Wufei looked down on the tie and back up at him. "Sit down would you, I only know how to tie these on myself."

Duo pulled out the low stool standing by the shoe shell and sat down on it, his legs sticking out in front of him. Wufei stepped up behind him and put the tie around his neck.

Wufei's arms came out from around his shoulders, rubbing against him as they moved.

Duo was almost surprised when he felt the soft smell of aftershave. Meilan had never smelled of any kind of chemicals aside from her shampoo and for some reason he had expected the same from Wufei. It was a nice smell, not as overwhelming as the stuff some guys used, but a underlying smell, unnoticeable if you weren't really close.

Wufei leaned slightly against his back as he looked over his shoulder. His hands moved smoothly over the silk tie, tying it together elegantly.

"Be careful when you put it back around your neck. Don't pull it too hard or it might get crooked." Wufei instructed softly against his ear.

Duo nodded, looking down on the perfectly done tie hanging over his t-shirt.

Wufei slowly pulled back. "Well, I've got to go." He mumbled, looking at everything but him. "Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow." A quick flash of the back of Wufei's dark suit and he was gone, leaving Duo alone in the hallway, still sitting on the stool. The apartment felt strangely quiet and his back was cold.

But notfor a second, did he wondered why Wufei had not just tied it around his own neck.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Come on, take a second to review, would you? Please?

Hittocerebattosai – LOL, better late than never. Thank you for the review, and the tackle :) I think the "we" snuck up on Duo. Poor dear, he has no idea what's going on.

Hugglesbunny – My god, I think you caught exactly what I was trying to say with the chapter, not to mention the story. Thank you, I was very happy to read your review :) oh, by the way, I absolutely –love- you name.

Shyalchemist – Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Oh, and I did get better… then I got an infection in my eye :( I am actually writing this with one eye closed because it stings like a mother fucker when I look at the screen with it. But I got some eye drops that would take care of it in a few days, it shouldn't be a problem… I hope :)

Kichikoneko – Thank you, yes, unfortunately most people know what it's like being sick. I got better and I even stopped coughing my lungs up, yay!. Wait, you said something else that I was going to respond to… wait… thinking, ah yes! I thought about writing a chapter in Wufei's POV, but I think that would take away some of the tension in the story. The story is more about Duo and his denial anyway. Now I'm glad I talked myself out of it and happy to know that the story works anyway :) I do believe that Duo will stay oblivious for a while longer. It's just so much fun to write the story over his head. Poor, poor boy, XD

Bigsister2 – Thank you, I'm really happy that you liked it…You don't feel used to getting one chapter a week? Hmm, now I just feel like spoiling you. My vacation actually starts on Monday, so I just might celebrate by posting another chapter. I'm not promising anything because I'm going back home and who knows when I'll be free to get online. I'll try :)


	10. Chapter 10

To Bigsister2 who, according to me, needed to be spoiled :)

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Chapter Ten

The date was a disaster. Quatre's sister Ameera was hot, that he could not deny. Blond, big breasts, long legs and soft looking lips that he definitely could find us for. She was nice and all, but she was so frustratingly girly! She kept giggling at everything he said, smiled like it was going out of style and tried to show off her cleavage at every chance she got. She might be nice to look at, but she was getting on his nerves.

So he totally had a thing for tomboys, so sue him.

He couldn't get away from her fast enough. He probably came off as a bit rude when he cut the date short but he just could not stand being around her any longer. If he heard her giggle one more time, he would have pulled out the sarcasm, and then things really would have gone to hell.

The first thing he did when he got home was to call up Wufei so that he could rant. No one understood the importance of ranting just as much as he did. Wufei calmly listened to him before inviting him over to break in his new bar. Duo happily accepted.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo was drunk, and if he had any doubts, the next question coming out of his mouth would have proved it. "So, does your cock work or is it just for show?"

"Hmm." Wufei tipped his head towards him from where he was slumping on the couch next to him. "There is no sperm, but yeah, it works."

"Cool." He muttered.

"Yeah, really cool." Wufei leaned forward, reaching out twice before he got a hold of his drink. "Remember how I used to make fun of you for always being horny."

Duo snorted. "Too well." He responded, taking a deep gulp to finish his glass.

"Well I apologize and I take -everything- back!" Wufei declared loudly, throwing his drink back before reaching for the vodka bottle.

"I fucking love karma." Duo grinned and motioned Wufei to fill up his glass too.

Wufei absently poured the liquor, barely managing to hit the glasses. "Horny fucking 24-7. It's like I'm getting turned on by everything. Hell, peeling potatoes gets me going." He muttered, handing Duo his drink.

Duo laughed drunkly, barely managing to take a hold of it instead of tipping it all over himself

Wufei took a swing from his own glass. He grimaced before pouring a generous amount of orange juice in it. "I don't know how you managed to do it. I've been ready to push my hand down my pants every fifteen minutes some days."

"Mmm**," **Duo slurred in agreement.** "**You need to get laid."

Wufei shook his head. "Haven't found anyone, don't want any one night stands." He took a deep gulp of his drink. "Shit, I haven't had sex since you walked out." He muttered. "Fucking pathetic."

Duo restrained himself from confessing the same. Well, if you didn't count that blow job he got in the bathroom of some club last year. He sure as hell didn't count it. Especially when the girl got back up on her feet and demanded to get paid. Then we can talk about being pathetic, when you accidentally hired a prostituted. He was never telling Meilan about that, she would cut his balls off, he just knew it.

"Met this guy over the Internet." Wufei's eyes got a little lost as he stared at the wall. "He seemed so nice and sweet, hot as hell." He swayed slightly as he talked. "Great taste in music, openly gay and-" Wufei seemed to lose track of what he was talking about. Fumbling with his glass, he leaned against Duo. "Ass, really great ass." Wufei slurred, leaning his head back to swallow the last of his drink.

Duo barely blinked when Meilan tipped over and landed with his head in his lap. "So what happened?" He asked, looking down at Wufei's unfocused eyes.

"What happened was that he wanted some kind of sick tranny bondage play in his basement." Wufei tried to get a hold of the vodka bottle, but just managed to wave his hand around in the air. "Fucking asshole."

"That's not good." Duo said intelligently. There were a pack of beers standing on the small table at the side of the couch and he just managed to get a hold of them without getting up. Ripping open the paper wrapping around them, he opened one of them with his thumb and handed it to Wufei. Meilan never did get a hang of that trick.

Wufei took a hold of the bottle with both hands, almost like he was holding the holy grail."He even had the guts to be disappointed that I got rid of the fat lumps on my chest. Fucking bastard."

"I liked your breasts." Duo mussed behind his beer.

Wufei ether didn't hear him or ignored him as he kept talking.

"I am so fucking glad I got the chest drain done. God, it hurt like fucking hell and I couldn't lift my arms for days. But I didn't get any scars, see?" Wufei lifted up his shirt, showing off his very male looking chest. Duo nodded. Meilan had been a pretty hairy girl, but Wufei was a lot hairier. From the brown nipples, all the way down to the edge of his pants were a bushy line of hair.

"Hairy." He remarked absently.

Wufei scratched his stomach, pulling slightly at the hair there. "Should see my legs, you could make a carpet out of it."

"I bet my leg are hairier." Duo declared proudly.

Wufei blinked slowly. "... Mmm, think you're right. I always liked your legs, you got really, really nice legs."

Duo was going to say something about Wufei just being jealous, but he got distracted when Wufei rolled over to reach down and pull his pants leg up all the way to his knee. A soft hand moved over his shin, playing with the hair growing there, caressing it.

Meilan was such an impulsive drunk. Duo thought absently, not feeling any need to tell her to stop. This was actually pretty mild coming from a girl who would get into her head to start demonstrations and ranted about various injustices whenever she had too much to drink.

She stopped the petting after a while, turning back so that her head was once again lying in Duo's lap. "Best thing ever to not have to shave my legs. Hated that, hated, hated, hated, hated."

Duo knew very well how much she hated it. She would only shave when they were going swimming and then she would bitch non-stop about it until it grew back out again.

He took a couple of deep gulps, finishing the bottle before opening another one. This whole drinking night thing was a great idea. He felt much better and he couldn't care less that Quatre was going to be a pain in the ass over the fact that he would not date his sister.

Wufei's head was resting quite comfortably against his cock but every time the other man tipped his head to take another drink from his beer, the back of his head would rub against him. He really should shove him off. Any second now.

Half a vodka bottle and four bottles of beer later, Duo found himself more than a little drunk. He just wanted to fall asleep right there, with his cock half hard, a heated body against his thigh and too much alcohol in his veins.

"Duo?"

"Mmm." he responded, not bothering to open his eyes. He felt pleasantly buzzed and relaxed. The world swayed around him, lulling him to sleep.

"Can I suck your cock?" She asked him.

There was a reason why that wasn't a good idea but at the moment, Duo couldn't for the life of him remember what that was. "Sure." His mouth said, following his dicks orders instead of his head's. Besides, Meilan gave the best blowjobs. It was like she tried to eat you alive.

His pants were opened clumsily and then his cock was out in the air. Meilan was licking and sucking on the barely hard cock until it was standing tall and proud. Then she went to work, much to Duo's delight.

It was only when he felt something rough brush against his thigh that he remembered that there was no Meilan anymore. This was Wufei and that rough thing was Wufei's unshaved chin. He felt like he should freak out. There was a gay guy around his cock. But he was tired, it felt good and it was Meilan. Or not still Meilan, and he loved her, he did. And God, it felt good.

And then he was coming, in long satisfying pulses, his hips twitching in time with them.

He felt lightheaded, but in a good way.

He should say something. He didn't know what.

It was all so confusing and he just wanted to sleep.

As if he said it out loud, gentle hands tipped him over onto the couch, lifting his legs up. A blanket was spread over him.

"Thank you." A voice whispered against his ear. Duo slept.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Come on, tell me what you thought about it. What's going through your mind right now?

A –huge- thank you to everyone that reviewed.

_Shan_ _Chan_ – Thank you. I felt really mean when I wrote this. Poor Wufei, getting stuck with Duo without actually having him. _Jacann_ – Oh I will not give up, don't you worry :)_ Ah_ _hael_ – I always thought that your gender bender was one of the most original I've ever read… damn, I'm going all fangirl on you again. LOL! No but seriously, thank you. I wasn't sure that I would be able to pull this plot off, but I couldn't help put try. It's nice to know that you liked it :) _Kichikoneko_ – God, I laughed like crazy when I read your review. You are not the only one who felt like that. At one point I got so sick of then dancing around each other that I (in this chapter actually) had them go at it like wild dogs… obviously I didn't keep that part, but it was fun to write :) _Droaerion_ – Now that was a really awesome compliment. Thank you. I'm really happy that you liked my Duo and I agree with what you said about people's habit of writing him too easy/too hard. It happens in far too many fictions (especially in 1x2 fictions, and is one of the many reasons besides hating Heero that almost had me stop reading gundam wing fanfiction before I found 2x5) and you just get –sick- of it. So as I said, I'm happy you liked it and I hope you will stick round to the end. _Bigsister2_ – Do you feel spoiled now? :) I hope you do. Well, thank you for you kind words and we are just going to have to wait and see who figures it out first :) _Cinnamon_ _Selkie_ – I can't even begin to say how fun it was to read your reviews. I actually sat at my computer and updated the page every now and then, following your way through the story. It was lots of fun, thank you. I'm really glad you liked it :) _Hittocerebattosai_ – Really? Well in that case I'm happy that I'm updating twice this week. Wouldn't want you to die on me, now would I ;) Princess Cythera – Thank you, I will :) _EbonyOsmosis_ – I first though about writing a het thing, but I suck at het (not to mention that Ah hael's gender bender was stuck in my head when ever I tried to write something) so I gave in to this plot that were poking me angrily. Wufei and Meilan really are a lot alike. I always thought that most of Wufei's angry justice obsession was something he got from her. _Spider_-_jen_ – I'm glad you like it. More couple like things is coming soon enough :) _Skean_ _Dhu_ – Duo really is so much fun when he's in denial, isn't he, lol! Poor Wufei for being stuck with him. :) _PanicEline_ – Why thank you, I do try ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Duo was not happy when he woke up. He had a headache, there were no blood in his arm because he slept on it and a guy sucked him off the night before. He was not having a good morning.

He swung his legs off the couch and put his cock back in his pants. What the hell was he thinking, what the hell was Mei- Wufei thinking? This was seriously messed up.

For a long time he just sat there, trying to sort out everything in his head.

A movement in the corner of his eye distracted him. He glared at the man walking through the doorway.

Wufei held his hands up in front of him. "I know you are not happy with me but I just want to say something before you go all 'straight guy**'** on me."

Duo tightened his lips as he leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest. This better be good.

Wufei sighed as he nervously walked back and forth in front of the couch. "I just want to say that I'm really grateful for what you let me do. I really needed that. I needed to feel wanted and I needed to know that I could have a sexual… encounter with someone."

Wufei rubbed a hand over his unshaved chin. "I've been stuck in the middle for so long. Especially between the surgeries where I wasn't female and I wasn't male, I was just this freak show in between. It was tough, really tough."

The Asian sighed and sank down on the edge of the coffee table, as far from Duo as he could come, and still be seated. "I haven't been 'finished' for that long, barely six I've just been trying to adapt as well as I can, but some things are still out of reach for me."

He looked up, meeting Duo's eyes with a sad almost helpless look in his eyes. "Yesterday... yesterday helped me more then you could possibly imagine. I felt so accepted and... free. You know who I am and what I was. I didn't have to hide or fake anything. It was liberating and I feel like I have gotten over a huge fear of mine." He looked down on his hands, rubbing them together.

"I'm not expecting it to happen again and I know you're probably upset with me but... I just want to thank you anyway." He trailed of, looking ready to face whatever harsh words Duo was going to throw at him.

Duo was quiet for a moment, trying to find some of the anger he woke up with. "God damn it. It's not fair that you are so good with words, I never stand a chance." He grumbled, looking away from those sad, familiar eyes.

"Sorry?" Wufei replied with a small sheepish smile.

Duo rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Whatever, it wasn't like I was totally gone, but it's not happening again. Are we clear?" He questioned, pointing a threatening finger in Wufei's face.

"Crystal."

"Good. So do you have anything for my head? Because it's fucking killing me."

"Sure, do you want anything to eat?"

Duo got up and followed Wufei towards the kitchen. "Something light maybe."

"Toast?"

"Why not."

"Duo?"

Duo grunted.

"Thank you."

Duo smacked him, not so gently, over the head.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

At first, Duo felt kind of awkward because of what happened, but when Wufei didn't act any differently around him, he let it go.

It might be his imagination but Wufei did seem a lot happier after that night. He wondered just how worried Wufei had been. That their ... he couldn't really call it sex, but for lack of a better word, sexual encounter, really had made Wufei more sure of himself and more at home in his own body.

He guessed that was all that really mattered.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Is Wufei seeing anyone?"

Duo looked up from his crossword and across the table at his boss. "Erh no. Why?"

Quatre tipped back his mug, finishing of the last of his coffee "One of Rashida's friends are gay and single, I thought that we could introduce them."

The pen in Duo's hand almost snapped from his suddenly tight grip around it. "Oh." A unexplainable dislike for Quatre's sister rose.

"Yeah, his name is Danny Matel. He's a really nice guy, I think they would get along great."

Something cold and tight squirmed in his chest. "I don't think Wufei is interested in dating anyone right now." He said, turning back to his crossword, unable to read a word.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Duo bit off harshly.

"We could always introduce them, no harm in that." The blond stretched his back and got up. "Well, I've already invited them to the game tonight, We'll see how it goes." He said before leaving the break room.

This time the pen did snap. Duo dropped the pieces down on the table and brought his hands up to rub his face.

He didn't know why he was so upset over the thought of someone dating Wufei. Why the hell did he care? Wufei might like to have someone.

Duo leaned back, glaring at the wall with his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

No, Wufei wasn't ready to date anyone, he was still getting used to everything and Quatre's matchmaking skills sucked. He was sparing Wufei a lot of stress and heart ache.

He just needed to call Wufei and ask if he wanted to do something tonight, something that didn't have anything to do with Quatre's house.

He fished his phone out off his pocket, dialing a now days familiar number.

"Chang."

"Hey Wu, I just wondered if you wanted check out a movie or something tonight." He asked, holding his thumb.

"Sorry, not tonight. My team is playing against the Lions. I'll be over a Quatre's most of the evening, you can come along if you want."

Duo's stomach turned at the thought of watching some guy flirt with Mei- Wufei. "Nah, football is such a boring sport, I'll pass."

"One of these days I'm going to make you understand it."

"What ever you say, Wufei, what ever you say," Duo said in a patronizing voice.

Wufei snorted and hung up. Duo played with the thought of calling back, to bother the other man, but his lunch hour was almost over and there were work to do.

Ignoring the uneasy feeling in his chest, he went back to work.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo was lounging in front of the TV when his cellphone rang.

He answered the phone with a "Yeah" without taking his eyes of the low budget action.

"It's me." An angry voice spoke from the other side.

Duo sat up, suddenly a lot more alert. "Wu? What's wrong?"

"It's been a shitty fucking night. My team got their ass kicked so badly it was fucking embarrassing and Quatre decided to play matchmaker."

"Oh." He mumbled, trying to sound surprised.

"Not that he worked all that hard on it. 'Oh, look, you're gay and he's gay, it must be match made in heaven!' Shit." Wufei growled and the sound of a door slamming could be heard in the background. "I can't believe that Quatre could even think that I would stand to be in the same room as the little shit, never mind date him. He was a fucking hairdresser, limp wrist and everything!" A loud crash was heard and Duo wondered what exactly meet the floor... or the wall.

"I can't stand that type. You're gay, so what? There is no reason to forget you are a fucking man. Jesus Christ. Then Quatre acted like it was all just a big coincidence, like 'Daniel, call me Danny' was there for any other reason then to meet me. He didn't know shit about the sport and he talked non-stop throughout the entire game! It was all I could do not to strangle the fucking fairy! The only time he payed any attention was when a player took their shirt off. Could you be more of a fucking stereotype?!" The sound of glass clinking together reached Duo's ear and it wasn't hard to figure out what Wufei was doing.

"I almost blew a gasket when he sat down next to me on the couch. 'Accidentally' rubbing against me, 'accidentally' spilling beer on me so that he could help me dry it up." There was a pause with a jumble of sounds in the background. "Trowa, the fucking bastard, was smirking the whole way through, he could see how uncomfortable I was and he thought it was funny! The fairy was all over me, telling me how 'fantastic' my hair was and-ugh! I could have killed him! Then when we were leaving he had the fucking guts to ask if I wanted to come over to his place! Was he really that stupid?!."

Duo smiled as Wufei ranted. "Want me to come over? I have an unopened bottle of Bailey's." He asked, already walking towards the kitchen and the bottle standing in his pantry.

"Misery loves company, yeah. I promise not to suck your cock." Wufei muttered, sounding a bit calmer.

Duo snickered. "Sounds good, I'll be right over." He hung up, whistling happily as he walked into the kitchen.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

I don't know if anyone have noticed it, but Duo is pretty oblivious in this story XD.

Now, please, please, please take a second to tell me what you thought about this. Please?

_**Bigsister2**_ – Oh I can definitely see you. Getting a foot massages as you are being feed peeled grapes by a hot, half naked guy XD. I'm happy that you feel spoiled and I just might have to do it again sometime :) _**StandingOnTheRooftops**_ - *pets Heero's tummy* Awww, isn't it cute :) I'm glad you like it, more clueless Duo coming up. _**Shan Chan**_ – LOL! The funny thing isn't just that I can see you furiously trying to clear up all the blood with a handkerchief, but also that just two minutes before I got your review, I was furiously trying to get fishfood out from under my keypads XD The irony amuses me. And thank you for the "hot, Hot, HOT!" it was nice to hear :) _**Cinnamon Selkie**_ – O yes, I really enjoy your reviews :) I'm glad you liked it and I hope you liked Duo's reaction. He didn't really freak out but it was close there for a moment :) _**Bryony**_ – If you have more thoughts about Wufe/Meilan I would love to hear them. You really did give me something to think about :) _**Shyalchemist**_ – Thank you :) Poor Duo is pretty oblivious in this story. I can just see the poor boy blushing like mad as he pays her XD _**Droaerion**_ – You have some interesting theories there, who knows, they might have a point :) I'll see what I can do about the sarcasm. I'll try to fit it in somewhere._** Spider-jen**_ – First thought – Thank you :) Next thought – You better believe it was awkward. Wufei should be really happy that Duo can't hold a grudge against him. _**DeceptiveinnocenceXIII**_ – I'm trying not to hate Heero but it's so hard when I just want to smack his unemotional ass when ever I read about him. And not in the sexy sort of way… I'll work on it. So what did you think about the morning after, memory fully there and Wufei still in the building? _**Darkrevenge**_ – Yes! Write a PWP! -jumps up and down- Please, please, please (yes, you have created a monster now) -puppy eyes- oh, and thank you for your kind words :)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

* * *

Meilan had this thing about her birthday. She refused to celebrate it, and had done so as long as he had known her. Therefore, it became something of a tradition for Duo to one day, either before or after her actual birthday, trick or bribe her into celebrating it.

It was now eight days before her birthday and Duo decided to start early this year, since he'd missed the last three.

He gave Wufei a call during his lunch break.

"Chang." A slightly stressed voice responded after a few signals.

"Hey cupcake, what time are you getting off work today?"

Duo grinned as he heard Wufei's amused snort. "Cupcake? Duo, that's so gay that I can't even begin to make fun of you."

"Good, keep your gay to yourself. I just want to know when you get off work."

"Late... ten, maybe eleven. I have a big case that I need to look through before tomorrow."

"Oh, that's too bad. I was going to try out this dessert for my next food night. It's with white chocolate and raspberries." He said with a teasing sigh, knowing just how much Meilan enjoyed white chocolate, not to mention berries of any kind. "Well I guess that I'm just going to have to eat it myself. I might just have to drink my loneliness away, maybe open this bottle of wine that I got today, oh look, it's a 'Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains' vine." He said, dropping the name of her favourite type of wine.

He could practically hear Meilan's mouth starting to water.

"Duo, you complete bastard." Wufei breathed out.

"Why yes, my parents were not married. What does that have to do with anything? Oh, well I suppose you are busy, It's just a shame to let these freshly picked berries go to waste, not to mention the loin of pork that was supposed to be cooked with curry."

"I hate you."

"Well, have fun with your little case. I'll be eating around seven. Bye cupcake." With that he hung up before the cursing could begin.

"I didn't know you were dating someone." Trowa remarked as he opened the locker next to his.

"Oh, I'm not, it's a private joke. I'm just messing with Wufei." Duo snickered and dropped his cellphone down in to one of the overalls many pockets.

The side of Trowa's mouth went up. "Ah, what did he do to deserve that?"

" breathes." Duo grinned, turning around to his locker to get his lunch out of his bag.

Trowa paused briefly. "Quatre told me that you two used to... date."

Duo flushed. He knew that the blond beast wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. "Um, yeah, a long time ago."

"Ah." Trowa nodded and went back to his own business. Duo shook his head over his strange friend and went to heat up his lunch.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Five to seven, Duo's doorbell rang. Drying his hands on a towel, Duo opened the door to let his guest in.

Wufei's arms were overloaded with files and paper folders in different colors.

Duo smiled and throw the towel over his shoulder. "Hey Wufei, what a surprise."

Wufei gave him a tired smile. "No, it's not."

"No, but it was fun to say it, come on in. Dinner is almost ready."

Wufei dropped his pile down on the small table next to him with a sigh.

"I should have known." Duo snorted, eying the files. "Leave them for now, would you?"

"Sure." Wufei agreed, probably happy to get an excuse to leave them behind.

He led his friend into the kitchen that smelled heavily of curry and fried meat. The rice was almost done and the desert just needed a few touches before it was served. Nothing was burned and he was more or less on time. He was proud ofhimself.

Duo dumped the towel over the back of one of the barstools standing around the tall table that served as his kitchen table/work surface since his kitchen was pretty small. Aside from the table, the counter and the refrigerator, there was not much space left. But what he did have was one hell of a kitchen window. It took up larger parts of the wall and overlooked the harbour. It was the upside of living in an old tuna factory. That and the high ceiling. You just had to ignore that the stairway up to your front door always smelled like fish.

"Do you need any help?" Wufei asked as he opened the top buttons on his shirt and rolled up his sleeves.

Since it was so small, the kitchen got hot very quickly when you were cooking. Duo was for this reason only dressed in a par of cut**-**off jeans and a black t-shirt. He had planned to dress up a little bit but he decided not to. It was too hot and Wufei wouldn't care anyway.

"No, I'm fine. Here." He broke off a piece of the chocolate bar that he was going to use for the desert and handed it over. "This will keep you happy for a while."

Wufei accepted it with a smile, pulling one of the barstools over to the counter. With an elbow leaning on the counter, Wufei nibbling the chocolate while watching him as he prepared the sauce in a pan.

"So what's this case you got?" Duo asked, pouring some low-fat cream into the pan.

Wufei shrugged. "It's nothing special, a woman is suing her ex-husband for money. Its just that it's the first case I get to handle all on my own. I don't want to mess up."

Duo steered the whisk around in the thickening souse. "Knowing you, that pile of 'work' out there is just something you want to read through, just in case."

Wufei dropped the last of his chocolate into his mouth. "More or less, I want to make sure that I've got it all clear in my head." He confessed around the candy.

"Mmm, pass me the pepper pot, would you?"

Wufei leaned backwards and got a hold of the slim glass pot and handed it over. Wufei watched as he spread the dark spice. "I really missed those salt and pepper pots. I haven't been able to find any like them, and believe me, I've looked."

Duo rubbed the frosted glass with his thumb. "I actually don't know where I got them from. I probably got drunk and stole them from somewhere."

"Sound like something you would do, yes." Wufei sighed theatrically. "So, somewhere out there, there is a restaurant with not only bad food but the perfect salt and pepper pots."

Duo stretched out past Wufei, grabbing a hold of the salt pot before dumping the both glass jars in Wufei's hand. "There, happy birthday."

"Wh- Duo, no. I can't take them." Wufei protested.

"Yes, you can. Don't you know it's rude to return gifts?" Duo turned back to the stove, only to pause. "But I might have to borrow them just tonight because I need the salt."

Wufei smiled and handed the pot over.

They were silent for a while. Wufei just watching him, as he checked on the meat in the oven and put the final touches on the sauce.

Wufei leaned his chin against his hand with a small smile. "In risk of sounding sentimental, it's nice to have you back, Duo. I missed you."

"Huh." Duo said thoughtfully as he dunked the whisk against the edge of the pan, making sure that it wouldn't drip before he put it down on the counter. "Well, what do you know, it actually was possible for you to get more gay then you already were."

"Shut up you asshole." Wufei grinned and punched him lightly on the arm.

Duo simply laughed as opened the top drawer, getting a spoon out. "No, but seriously, I've missed you too Mei- Wufei, sorry. Still working on the name thing."

"You're telling me? I don't know how many times I've been trying to change the 'M' into a 'W' because I was about to write Meilan on something."

Duo snickered as he dipped the spoon into the steaming sauce. "You should have changed your name to something starting with an M." He lifted the dripping spoon up, blowing on it to cool it down.

"That would have made things even worse, not to mention that, it had to be Wufei."

Duo wanted to ask why but he had already put the spoon in his mouth so he took a second to think about the food first. He rolled the taste around in his mouth. It tasted pretty good to him, but just to be sure he took another spoon out, dipped it and held it out to Wufei.

"What do you think, more pepper?" Duo asked.

Wufei, instead of taking a hold of the spoon, leaned forward and took it into his mouth.

It made Duo think of things that should not be thought about.

"No, it's good. Perfect in fact." Wufei said softly, in a almost sad tone as Duo pulled the spoon back.

Duo put the pan on the side of the stove, looking over at the other man in question. "What? Something wrong?"

Wufei shook his head. "No, nothing."

Duo didn't believe him but knew that Meilan wouldn't share if he didn't want to. "So, anyway. Why did it have to be Wufei?"

"It was the name my parents would have given me if I had been born a boy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Meilan if I was a girl, Wufei if I was a boy, that's what my mother told me when she was expecting Yuen. Since then, I've always known in the back of my head that my name really was Wufei."

Duo tilted his head with a frown. "So, you have more or less known that you were a guy since you were, what? Seven?"

"Five."

"Shit, that's heavy stuff." Duo said as he lifted down the sauce boat from it's shelve.

Wufei ran a hand over his hair. "Yeah, well it didn't really bother me until my teens. That's when things started to become complicating."

Duo nodded as he poured the sauce. "I can imagine. So that's when you figured it out?"

"It's a bit hard to say, but yeah. At first I just thought I disliked woman because they were so weak and shallow**. **But I disliked my own body even more, and it was far from weak."

Duo snorted, thinking back to the first time that he meet Meilan. She had totally kicked his ass across the dojo.

"I've always known that I wanted to be a boy, but I didn't realize that I actually was a boy until I was nineteen."

Duo paused. "The year we meet?"

"Yeah, about six months after, I had a bit of a eyeopener."

"What was it?" Duo asked, hopping that it wasn't him.

"Oh, it was stupid really. A woman gave me a tongue lashing when I walked into a public bathroom because 'the girl's room was for girls and I should stick to the urinal.'"

Duo lifted an eyebrow. "That made you figure it out?"

"Well, it started there. It wasn't that I went 'oh my god, she's right' I was just so unbelievably happy and grateful to her for believing that I was a male. It felt so right, like everything became clearer." Wufei drummed his fingertips against the counter top. "I had a long period where I cross-dressed a lot. I'm actually pretty surprised that you didn't notice."

Duo shrugged. "You were you, no matter what you wore." He stopped for a second. "But on the other hand, the underwear should probably have given it away." Thinking back, it was a bit odd to confuse your own underwear with your girlfriend's.

"Well, at least you never caught me stuffing them."

Duo gaped. "Seriously?"

Wufei nodded with a twisted smile. "Ever wonder why we went through so many tube socks in a week?"

"I can't believe that I didn't notice that." He said, shaking his head.

Wufei gave him a amused look. "You were pretty oblivious."

Duo snorted. "I was seventeen and barely dry behind the ears. I do believe that the only reason we managed to get together at all was because you shoved your phone number down into my jeans and told me to call you, or you were going to kick my ass." He said, bending down to get the pot-holders out of its drawer.

Wufei's eyes went wide. "I did?"

Duo looked up between his bangs with a amused grin. "Yeah, you don't remember? You were pretty drunk by then."

"To be truthful, I don't remember much of that party at all." The man mumbled.

Duo smiled as he turned to Wufei, leaning his hip on the counter. "I think you won me over by trash talking pop music, Green Peace, Victoria's Secret and Christianity in one breath."

Wufei laughed out an embarrassed groan.

"I thought you were the coolest girl ever and I would never have managed to collect enough courage to hit on you." Duo mused.

Wufei snorted lightly. "Oh come on, you were talking to me all the time."

"As a friend, yes. I'm very good at talking, but not all that great at saying things that really matter."

Wufei pushed the pepper pot back and forth on top of the counter. "I think you're selling yourself a bit short. The big speeches might not be your thing, but I know that when it comes down to it, you always manage to say the right things. It might not be elegant, but it usually hits its mark."

"Maybe, but this was me at seventeen we're talking about. You were so self-assured and strong, I didn't think you would have been interested."

"Interested?" Wufei snorted. "I noticed you from the second you walked in."

Duo grinned. "Really?"

"God yes. You were wearing that tight black band t-shirt, the one with the roses on and the blue jeans with the rips. You looked hot."

"You remember what I wore?" Duo asked, feeling impressed. " I just remember that I thought you were a bit scary at first. I was pretty used to have the girls to be giggling and friendly, you were so far from it that you were a bit... intimidating. You were so up in everyone's face, refusing to back down from anything or anyone. You more or less demanded that I should notice you." He smiled, thinking back to the sharp tongued girl in her white training uniform. "So, what made you push that phone number down my pants? I've always wondered."

"Well, as I said, I don't remember all that much but I guess that you were just too pretty for me to resist." Wufei leaned forward with a leer and Duo found himself blushing for no reason at all.

A sharp beeping coming from the timer startled them both.

He turned and opened the oven, making sure that everything was as it should be before taking out the tin. "Well then, dinner is ready."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Dinner was spent with pleasant conversations about everyday subjects. It felt like the old days, back in their apartment, when they would just sit back, talk about their day, rant about things that bothered them and just enjoy each other's company.

They kept talking, long after the food was gone, calmly sipping their wine. They talked about things they used to do, filled each other in on what they had been up to during their years apart and what plans they had for the future.

Duo glanced down on his watch. "Hm, maybe we should move on to the dessert."

"Yeah, you promised me chocolate." Wufei smiled behind his wine glass.

"And chocolate you shall have."

While Wufei piled the plates with the rest of dishes on the counter, Duo started to prepare the desert. It wasn't a very complicated recipe, just melted white chocolate on top of raspberries and homemade sorbet. But since all those things were Meilan's favourite, it was perfect.

By the time the chocolate had melted, Wufei was more or less drooling.

Duo couldn't help but tease him. "Do you want something?" He asked, lifting the spoon up and letting the smooth cream colored chocolate drip back down into the bowl. Wufei's eyes went a little wild, something that inspired Duo to bring the spoon up to his mouth. Slowly he licked it clean.

"Oh, you did not just do that." Wufei breathed.

"I'm pretty sure I did." Duo smiled innocently, ignoring that his tongue was pretty numb. The chocolate really was too hot to put in your mouth, but the look on Wufei's face made it worth it.

"God, you are such an asshole."

"What was that? An asshole? Well then, I'll just take my chocolate and go then." He said, picking the bowl up.

"Duo, give me the chocolate or I'm going to kick your ass." Wufei threatened. He looked really intimidating with his teeth bared, his eyes narrowed and a piece of hair handing freely over the side of his face.

Since he knew that his ex was fully capable of doing just that, he decided to compromise since it wasn't his style to just give up.

"If you promise to take the pepper and salt pots with you when you leave, you can have the dessert." He said, holding the bowl up high so the shorter man couldn't reach it.

Wufei hesitated, confirming Duo's suspicions that he had planed on 'forgetting' them. "Fine."

Duo grinned in victory and put the bowl down. "How nice of you to see things my way." He said happily, walking over to the fridge to get the sorbet out.

He was pretty pleased with himself that the sorbet had worked out as well as it had. The first time he tried to make it, the whole thing turned into a pink shapeless goo. This try, on the other hand, looked as close to the picture on the recipe as he possibly could accomplish.

He put the bowls down on table since therewas no room left on the counter and got the berries out of the refrigerator. The raspberries were carefully spread over the sorbet before he moved the check the temperature on the chocolate. It was still hot but not enough to instantly melt the sorbet. Carefully tipping the bowl he pouring the chocolate over the whole thing.

"Do you want some more wine?" Wufei asked as he held the bottle over his glass.

"Yes, please." He said, scraping some extra chocolate over Wufei's desert.

"This looks really good." Wufei praised, his eyes flicking from where he was pouring the wine to the dripping chocolate and back again.

A couple of berries were dropped on top for decoration. "Thanks." Duo stepped back to admire his masterpiece. "Well then, dig in."

Wufei didn't need more encouragement then that and he quickly sat down on the barstool and brought his spoon up like it was about to deliver a killing blow.

Duo chuckled, taking a moment to put the sticky bowl down on top of the pile of plates, the only free space left on the counter. He turned around, only to startle slightly as he looked at Wufei.

The other man looked like he was experiencing the greatest pleasure with his eyes closed and a small content smile on his lips. Lips that had a bit of sticky chocolate stuck on them. Duo suppressed the instinctive reaction to lick it off.

Wufei clearly had not had any work done to his lips because they were still as full and inviting as they always been. He used to love kissing Meilan. He remembered how it was to curl up next to her, kissing her slowly as they let the rest of the world melt away. If Wufei had still been Meilan, he would have kissed her. But he wasn't. But Duo still wanted to do it.

Mentally shaking himself he turned to his own desert.

It was late when they finally decided to call it quits. They both had to go to work the next day but if they didn't, Duo was sure that they would still be sitting by that table when the sun rose.

"Hey, Wu." The Asian paused from where he was putting his coat on and turned back to him. "Happy birthday."

A twisted smile spread over the other man's face. "It's over a week left."

"That just means I was first."

"I suppose." Wufei smiled softly. "Thank you Duo, good night."

The door closed behind the shorter man, then the apartment were empty and quiet. For a while Duo just stood here, feeling the absence of people around him. He needed to start dating again, he really didn't like being all alone. Duo roamed around the rooms, washing some dishes, straightening a couch pillow and pushing the chairs back in under the table.

He decided to go to bed, there was no point in staying up. He brushed his teeth, dressed down into his boxers, before taking a walk around the apartment to turn off all the light. As he reached out to flick of the light in the hallway he bumped his foot into one of his shoes. It made a strange clinking sound. Hunching down he turned his shoe up side down, making two 'forgotten' glass pots fall out.

"Oh, this means war." He whispered with a grin.

He went asleep with a smile, his head buzzing of ideas on how to make Wufei accept the salt and pepper pots.

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Well then. If you would be so kind and press the little button to tell me what you thought about this, then I would be very happy… come on, please? –puppy eyes-

_**Roses in bloom**_ – Glad that you managed to get past the summery :) I'm happy you liked it. _**Bigsister2**_ – Happy you liked it :) There are a lot of gay people who don't fit into the stereotypes, but since the more… flamboyant are the once you see, that's what people expect. Hmmm, so you want to be spoiled again, do you? Well, considering I'm celebrating my vacation right now, I might just do that :D keep your eyes open on Tuesday or Wednesday. _**Foxxy Mcgee**_ – Was that enough Wufei for you? :) Or really, can you ever get enough Wufei? :D _**AzumaKohana**_ – That's a high praise, thank you :) I'll try to keep it up, I'll do my best. _**kichikoneko**_ – Thank you :) Yes, as soon as Duo get's his head straight- or not so straight ;) they will definitively live very happy together… and that will be in about… 3-4 chapters. _**shyalchemist**_ - lol, I'm glad you liked it. Oblivious Duo is just so sweet that I'm just going to keep him that way for a while :) _**Skean**_ _**Dhu**_ - -pets Duo- Yes, he is a bit silly, isn't he? Poor silly Duo, he will get his in the end :) Lol, I liked your chick with a dick comment _**EbonyOsmosis**_ – I'm glad you liked it :) I have a feeling that if I so put that bright neon sign that you mentioned, around his neck, Duo would still not get it. Oblivious Duo is just so much fun to write XD _**hugglesbunny**_ – LOL! You have a point there. Straight boys have a strange reluctance towards getting blowjobs from gay guys. Too bad. XD _**Bryony**_ - I'm glad you think so. We get to see more manly Wufei later on, be prepared :) _**StandingOnTheRooftops**_ – If this had been one of my cliché fictions, I so would have had Duo forget about it, only to remember in a inappropriate moment. That would have been really funny XD… I might just have to save that one for later. And would you really want to let lose Quatre on those two? Except that it would be funny just to see the look on Duo's face. _**snowdragonct**_ – It's true that he has grown up a bit, but he still has a bit to go before we get our happy ending :) I am so looking forward to it. _**DeceptiveInnocenceXIII**_ – Yes, sometimes we just have to suffer through some of the serious stuff XD, but not too much I hope :) … Heero-therapists? Now that might be interesting. If you find one, let me know :) _**darkrevenge**_ - … I think that act is a strong word but you have a point. I think that it has a lot to do with wanting to belong. If we want to be friends with people who care a lot about their looks- then we start caring a lot about our looks. If we want to belong among people who likes sport, then we like sport. And if we want to belong with people like Danny, we start acting like him. So in a way, it's a bit of an act at the same time as it can be a liberation for people who does not want to follow the lines that are set out for their sex… my, you really got me going on this XD. It's an interesting subject. I'll just stop now :) PS, you better believe that I'm keeping my eyes open. _**Cinnamon**_ _**Selkie**_ – Ah! –falls over- Now that sarcasm almost ran me over XD Ah, Quatre the matchmaker… who knows –whistles innocently- you might be wrong, or you might just as well be right :)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

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Duo picked his phone off the floor, bringing it up to his ear where he was lying on the couch, hisfeet up on the armrest. "Hey Wufei."

"Hi, look. Do you have any free time today?"

Duo looked around his living room, at the bad comedy series on TV, the crumbs all over his chest and remote control in his hand. "I think I can find some time, wait, let me check me schedule." He brought yesterdays newspaper up to the phone, ruffling the pages. "Yes, I do believe that I can fit you in between now and whenever."

"Good, I'm putting up new wallpaper in the living room and some help would be nice."

Duo put the remote down on the table with a laugh. "What is it with you and wallpaper?"

"Wallpaper is very important for the room's character."

"Whatever you say." Duo said in a patronizing voice as he rolled off the couch.

"Just because you couldn't care less…"

Duo just snickered. "I'll be right over," he said before hanging up.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It wasn't hard to find some worn clothes to use; his whole wardrobe was full of them. For a second his hand hesitated over a washed out old black band t-shirt with roses on it, the same tee-shirt that Meilan had seen him in that first time. Wearing it would be such a bad idea. He thought about throwing it away so he wouldn't accidentally pull it on sometime. He didn't want to hurt Wufei, he probably did that enough unintentionally. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead he put it with Meilan's shirts and slippers under the bed to be thrown away when he was ready to do it. Soon, just not right now.

Since Wufei didn't live all that far away, Duo arrived just twenty minutes after the call ended, ready to put up some wallpaper.

"Come in!" Duo heard Wufei's muffled shout coming from inside the apartment as he rang the doorbell.

He opened the door and walked in. The first thing he noticed was that there were a lot more boxes in the hallway thenthere used to be. They were almost up to the ceiling on both sides, leaving a slim path in between. The living room on the other hand was more or less empty, only containing a stepladder and a makeshift table made of boxes and what looked like an old door. Duo turned in a circle, taking in the rather small living room.

"Hey." Wufei greeted him as he walked in, drying his hands on a rag.

Duo just grunted in response. "This place really is pretty small."

"It was the best I could find with the type of money I have. Not all of us can manage to find a apartment with ocean view."

Duo shrugged. "Heero found it for me, he's a damn wizard with that computer of his. The bathroom was crap when I first moved in. It took me months before I managed to fix it up."

"Well, fixing things up was always your speciality." Wufei smiled, shoving a couple of wallpaper rolls in his arms. "And now you get a chance to prove it."

Duo held up one of the rolls, examining the light gray medallion pattern on its pale, cream background "Isn't this the same wallpaper we had in our old apartment?"

Wufei looked embarrassed. "Not exactly, but pretty close." he turned away, moving some rollers to the side on the workbench. "I liked them."

Duo liked them too. One of the reasons that he had rented his own apartment was because the bedroom had similar wallpaper. The only difference was that instead of light grey medallions, his were light blue.

"So." Duo rested the rolls against his hip and looked around the room. "Should we get started?"

"Yeah." Wufei started rolling out one of the stripes on the table. "There's another step ladder in the kitchen."

Duo nodded, leaving the rolls on the floor he walked across the room into the kitchen. He blinked in surprise when he saw the large piles of boxes that were stored there.

"Damn, do you have something against unpacking your things or something?" Duo questioned as he eyed the brown, unmarked boxes.

"I'm working on it." Wufei replied from the living room.

"Well you are apparently not working very hard."

"It's just- I can't-" A deep sigh was heard from the other room "A lot of the boxes are from when we broke up, I never unpacked them, I just stored them." There was a long awkward pause. "It takes time to go through them."

"Yeah... I know." Duo confessed quietly. It took him weeks before he managed to unpack some of those boxes. It took time when almost every box threatened to bring you to tears.

Duo grabbed a hold of the ladder standing in front of the fridge. He was just about to hurry back when a thought struck him.

Carefully listening he heard Wufei moving around in the living room. With a slightly evil smile, Duo fished a glass pot out of each pocket of his large sweatpants. He then quickly opened the cupboard where Wufei stored his spices and pushed the pots in between the jars.

Suppressing a grin, Duo went back out to help Wufei.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

They got into a good tempo, putting up strip after strip effortlessly. But as with most things, it's when you least expect it, when something goes wrong.

Duo was just about to brush away some air bubbles from the bottom of his latest strip when a wet noise was heard, making Duo looked up. The top of the strip were slowly coming lose, falling down towards him. Dropping the brush, Duo brought his hands up to try to stop it. Unfortunately he was not quite tall enough.

"Help." Duo said as the loose wallpaper bent, threatening to let the sticky side end up on his head.

"Wait, stand still, I'll get it." Wufei pushed his ladder over, coming up behind him. Steady hands took a hold of the wallpaper and lifting it up and away from him. Leaning over and against him, Wufei fastened the edge of the wallpaper up against the ceiling. "It the pattern right further down?" The shorter man asked after shifting it around for a moment.

Duo checked the edges carefully, knowing better then to not be a hundred percent sure when it came to Meilan's wallpaper. "Yeah, it's perfect."

"Good, hand me the brush." Wufei ordered, not taking his hands off the wallpaper.

Duo bent down to pick up the brush by his feet. He startled when something bumped against his ass.

"Really Duo, all you have to do is ask." Wufei teased as he brushed his crotch against his ass again. Slowly this time as he saw that he had Duo's attention.

Duo blushed bright red and stumbled, smacking his head into the wall. "Ow!"

Wufei roared in laughter, almost falling off the top of the stepladder. He managed to catch himself by taking a hold of Duo's shoulder.

"That was not funny!" Duo protested, shoving him off as he rubbed his aching nose. Wufei paid him no mind as he gripped his knees, bending over in laughter.

"Oh- oh god, need camera." Wufei gasped out between his laughter.

Duo turned around to jab Wufei not so gently in the side with his elbow. Wufei wobbled for a second, trying to find his footing before tipping over, smacking straight into a surprised Duo. Together they fell heavily to the floor in a jumble of arms and legs. Duo blinked from where he was lying pretty much flat on his back with Wufei all over him. The back of his head hurt from where he smacked it in to the wall and Wufei's knee were digging into a very uncomfortable place. Wufei looked torn between being pissed and being amused, as he opened his mouth to say something. At the same second, Duo noticed something in the corner of his eye.

He cut off whatever Wufei was about to say with a- "Wallpa-!"

He didn't get further as the sticky wallpaper fell down over the both of them.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

They took a break to clean up. Duo complained about the state of his hair all the way through and didn't stop until Wufei started mocking him every chance he got.

"Pass me the brush, would you princess?"

"Would you shut up already." Duo growled, dropping the roller back down into the glue. "You really shouldn't say anything Cinderella, or was it Snow White?" Duo said, referring vaguely to a costume party that he only seen photos of.

Wufei apparently had no problems understanding what he was talking about. "I was eight!"

"I'm just saying that you should be careful. Your mother likes me and would happily give me all the copies that I want."

Wufei slowly looked up from where he was rolling glue out on the back of a stripe. "You wouldn't."

"Wanna bet?" He fished his phone out. "Your parents still have the same phone number, don't they?"

Wufei came around the table and made a grab for him as he started pushing in the number. He tried to get away but the other man was faster then him. Wufei took a hold of his arm, twisting it around until it was caught behind his back, prying the phone out of his had. Duo struggled for a second even if he knew that he couldn't get away. "Isn't there a rule against using Karate tricks while playing around?"

"Only if the other person doesn't know the same tricks." Wufei bent Duo's arm just a little bit more, making him grunt in discomfort. "Then if the other person is just out of practice, you are free to exploit it."

"Give me a break, I haven't set my foot in a dojo since I moved." Duo said, giving Wufei a slight push from where he was pressed up against him.

Wufei let go, stepping away from him. "I've gone a few times, but not all out." Wufei deleted his parents phone number before tossing the cell phone back.

Catching it, Duo was about to ask why, when he realized that he already knew the answer. It was hard to remember that Wufei spent the last three years going in and out of the hospital getting himself cut open. Wufei, who was so comfortable in his own body, like he was born into it, not sliced into it. Like Meilan went asleep at night and the next morning Wufei woke up and went along with his life.

"Maybe we should start training together." Wufei said as he turned back to the sticky wallpaper.

Duo brightened at the idea. "Yeah, that would be fun. There's a dojo not far from here. I've never been there but it looked nice." Duo said, thinking back at the building that he tried to his best to avoid the last few years.

"What's it called?"

"Um, Yoshinka Dojo, I think."

Wufei scribbled the name down on a piece of discarded wallpaper. "I'll see if I can just book a mat for us. I don't know about you, but I don't feel ready to just jump into a class right now."

Duo nodded. "Yeah, let's just play around for a bit like we used to."

Wufei mumbled a quick 'yeah' before turning back to the table. Duo wasn't sure, but it looked like he was blushing.

Duo frowned but didn't put much thought into it, instead he moved the ladder to the side before accepting a freshly glue covered stripe from Wufei.

They worked comfortably side by side for the rest of the day until the entire room was done. The only difficulty they ran into was how to cut the wallpaper around the window, something that turned out to be harder then they first thought and forced them to redo it several times.

But then the room was suddenly done and it was getting late. Duo never realized how quiet it was in the apartment before then and he awkwardly dried off his hands as he inched his way towards the door. He felt out of place, but for some reason he still didn't want to leave, even when he didn't have any excuse to stay.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then. I guess."

Wufei leaned against on of the piles of boxes in the hallway. "Yeah, its Quatre's turn to cook, isn't it?"

Duo nodded, rubbing his thumb on the edge of a box, very aware of the front door behind him.

There was an awkward pause. Duo felt like he should do or say something. If Wufei still had been Meilan he would have given her a kiss, or at least a hug. But he couldn't do that, so instead he reached out and tugged Wufei's ponytail roughly.

"Bye, cupcake." He threw over his shoulder before slamming the door behind him to the sound of Wufei's curses.

Feeling pleased with himself, Duo started walking, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jacket. He stopped and cursed when his fingers brushed against the salt and pepper pots lying in there. "How the hell did she do that?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

The end is closing in.

Just to make things clear, the end will be pretty abrupt, like a lot of my stories are. The reason is simple, I'm a person who acts, thinks and writes in a abrupt way. Not much I can do about it. Sorry XD

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I'm sorry, but I don't have time to answer the wonderful reviews that I got since I'm leaving in a couple of minutes. :(

I'm going to a music festival for a few days (ARVIKA! Så jävla underbart! Någon som ska dit?). It's most likely going to rain the whole time… damn, I'm going to be swimming in mud XD. I'm a bit curious about Nine Inch Nails, not to mention the trance/house show where I'm more or less going to be living. It's going to be so much fun! Sorry, rambling. I'm just really excited. This, unfortunately, means that I will not update on Friday.

_Please_ leave me a few words on what you thought about the chapter, I would love to have something to look forward to when the fun is over :)

Oh, and for those wondering about Wallflower. My beta just got back from the hospital and is a bit doped up on painkillers so she will need a bit more time before she can get to it. Send her some love would you?


	14. Chapter 14

_My beta pointed out that since a lot of people reading this are American, they don't use the same measurements as I do, but since I don't feel like adapting myself I'm going to explain it._

_Okay, here we go. Your pinky is about one centimeter (probably not exactly, but just about). Now imagine ten pinkies lying next to each other (mmm bloody), that' a decimeter. Now imagine ten of those next to eachother, that's a meter. Simple :)_

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Chapter Fourteen

"Hey Duo." Was the greeting he got as he climbed into the waiting car.

"Hey Cupcake." He replied as he climbed gracelessly into the car with his large gym bag in his arms.

Wufei watched him in amusement as he tried to fit his long legs into tight space before starting the car. "I talked to my mother earlier today and they - the entire family - are coming to visit me this weekend on my birthday, if you wanted to see them."

Duo's eyes lit up. "Yeah..." He hesitated, fingers curling tightly around handles of his gym bag. "You don't mind... do you?"

Wufei checked the traffic before pulling out on the street. "I wouldn't have asked then would I? Mom will be happy to see you, and so will Dad."

"I'd like that. I - I've missed them." He confessed, squirming slightly in his seat. "Are they mad at me?"

Wufei looked over at him for a second with a sad smile. "No, they were more disappointed in me for not telling you sooner."

Duo was silent for a moment, staring out of the car window. He didn't really want to ask, because he knew that it would bring both their moods down, but he wanted to know. "So why didn't you?"

Wufei sighed as he shifted gear. "Isn't it obvious? I was pretty sure that what happened was going to happen. I didn't want to risk losing you before I was sure that I was going to get the surgery. "

"Oh..." Duo thought for a second, absently playing with a lose thread on his bag. "So how does that whole surgery thing work anyway?"

Wufei slowed down to a stop in front of a red light. "Well, I went through several sessions with a psychologist and a lot of medical exams to confirm that I really was transsexual and not just a little fucked in the head. Did you know that you can actually tell by looking at someone's brain what gender they have?"

"No." Duo didn't make a habit out of thinking about other peoples brains.

"It's really fascinating. My doctor actually showed me some x-ray pictures and pointed out what made it obvious that a brain was male or female, despite what gender the body had." Duo barely had time to blink before Wufei went on, telling him about all the different parts of a brain that was different for the sexes. Duo was silent as he listened.

He never thought about it that way, but slowly it started to sink in. All the talk about brains, not to mention that word, -transsexual- somehow made it more real. He guessed that a part of him had still thought that Meilan just woke up one day and felt like being a man instead.

He looked over at Wufei who was trying to change lanes while talking rapidly. Maybe it was true, that there never was a Meilan, just Wufei trapped in a body that wasn't his own.

He leaned back against the car door and took a good look at the man next to him. Meilan had been a pretty masculine girl. Wide shoulders, almost no waist, nonexistent ass and small breasts. It all helped Wufei now, making him a more believable guy. That he had plenty of muscles also helped. It gave you a feeling that Wufei might be shorter then the average man, but you couldn't shove him around, even if you tried.

He lifted his eyes to the face and the still talking mouth. Meilan had not been a beautiful girl, but as a man he was pretty good looking. Shapes and lines that had made Meilan look angular just made Wufei look striking.

"What? Am I boring you?" Wufei asked, meeting his eyes.

Duo shook his head. "No, just thinking. Go on, I'm listening."

"If you don't give a shit, just tell me. I'm not going to get offended."

"No, I care... I want to know."

"Okay." Wufei gave him a happy smile and Duo wondered if Wufei had ever been given the chance to talk about this with anyone.

"Well, as I was saying, the number of neurons in a female-to-male transsexuals brain is similar to that of a male, it's the same in male-to-female transsexuals and females."

Duo had a hard time following what Wufei was talking about but he had a feeling that it didn't matter; it just needed to be said out loud. The other man looked so involved in what he was talking about, waving his hand around as he rambled. It was kind of cute.

Meilan had done the same thing. She would just go of into a seemingly endless lecture about the strangest things. The difference was that Meilan, more often then not, was angry over something instead of just being exited over sharing something that she found interesting.

"What is fascinating is how the number of neurons was 81% higher in homosexual men than in heterosexual women, it makes-"

Duo felt slightly guilty for not being able understand what was so interesting about neurons but he nodded along to everything Wufei said. Very much like he had done when Meilan started talking about the socialistic revolution or something else that made absolutely no sense to him.

He was just happy that Wufei had not asked for his opinion on anything by the time they arrived. Parking the car on the other side of the street, Wufei looked over at the Dojo. "It looks nice." Wufei remarked.

"Yeah." Duo had seen it before, but never been inside it. It represented too many things from his old life, that the mere sight of it had been painful. He never did get over the habit of driving the long way around this place so he did not have to see it.

It was a large, white painted building with the dojo's logo in gold hanging above the entrance. Large red pennants were hanging between each window, proudly showing of kanji signs that barely anyone in that country could understand. A couple of trees stood in a neat row in front of it, giving you the illusion that you were out in the open country, not in the middle of the city.

Wufei opened the door to step out. Duo took a second, taking a new grip on his bag before doing the same. By the time he arrived on the other side of it, Wufei had taken his bag out from the back and was ready to lock the car. Together, they crossed the street and pushed open the somewhat heavy door. On the other side was a large, open room. Decorative golden dragons spread across the white walls, all the way up to the impressive round skylight that took up most of ceiling, high above their heads.

A koi pond, complete with rocks, a fountain and colorful fishes was sunken down into the floor the middle of the room.

"How much did you pay to rent a mat here anyway?" Duo whispered, eyeing his surroundings. It looked really expensive and he didn't know if he dared to take another step, scared that his boots would leave dirty footprints on the clean, white floor.

Wufei didn't answer him, he just walked towards the far wall that had an large golden arrow with the word 'reception' engraved on it. "I'll find out what mat we're on."

Duo nodded. Seeing a similar sign on the other side with the words 'Dojo' and 'changing room' on it, Duo started walking towards it. "I'll go change." He told Wufei as the other man walked towards the reception. A dismissive wave was all he got as an answer.

He was glad to see that the changing room was far from as fancy as the rest of the place, just row after row of yellow metal lockers. He picked an unoccupied one, not far from the showers, not wanting to walk further then he had to.

He changed into his traditional white training outfit. The thick texture felt familiar but at the same time very foreign against his body. It was a bit sad that he'd given up on his training after they split up. But it was far from the only thing that he had given up on. A lot of things that he used to do were swept under the rug after he broke up with Meilan.

Duo shook his head, trying to scatter his dark thoughts as he tied the belt around his waist. Meeting Wufei really was opening up doors for him. He was going to start dating again, he was training again and he was happier then he could remember being in a very long time. Finally, after so long, he was moving on.

He sat down on the bench in front of the lockers, wiggling his naked toes over the cold plastic floor. He was really looking forward to this and he could hardly wait to start.

Time went by and when Wufei didn't show up, Duo got bored. He turned around and closed the yellow metal door, locking it with the same padlock that he used back at their old dojo. Fondly he rubbed his thumb over the pink glittery unicorn sticker on the lock. Meilan had put it there after he glued the Barbie logo on hers. With a smile he left the changing room and wandered out to the mats. The dojo was big, a lot bigger then their old one. There were four bigger mats and at least ten smaller ones that all had several bamboo room dividers between them.

It was still early and there were not that many people around. A couple of training pairs were warming up further away and a class of younger children were going through one of the basic katas on one of the bigger mats.

Duo leaned against the wall, watching them as he remembered how he first started training. It was through one of his mom's old boyfriends, one of the few that didn't treat him as an annoying appendage to his mother. The man had taken him along during one of his own trainings and Duo was instantly hooked. Maybe he should try to look Zechs up to see what he was doing now days?

He had actually been pretty sad when his mother broke up with the blond after two years. But by that time he was fifteen and the dream of having a real father felt kind of pointless anyway.

He kept up his training though, even when Zechs never came back to the dojo.

Duo left his first dojo when he was seventeen. He was frustrated with the teachers and he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere. Then someone recommended a smaller dojo out in the middle of the concrete suburb, saying that it was a good place to go.

His first visit there was the first time he had seen Meilan. She was instructing a beginner's class in how to fall and Duo had been mesmerized.

She was confident and in total control, not to mention cool and funny. He wouldn't say that was love at first sight, but it was definitively puppy love at first sight. He would follow her around everywhere, talking a mile a minute, find any excuse to be around her, do anything to make her smile. And she let him.

He never thought he had a chance. She was older, and more experienced with such a wicked personality that he thought it was strange that she didn't have guys hanging off her arm. Or maybe it wasn't so strange. Meilan wasn't one to put up with people that she didn't like and she did not like a lot of people. He always considered it to be something of a miracle that she wanted to date him. A dream come true.

He was brought out of his thoughts as someone bumped into his arm. Wufei appeared next to him, also dressed in the standard outfit. Duo noted with a mental pout that Wufei was still a grade over him. He fought hard to reach this level and earn his green belt. Meilan breezed through her upgrading like it was nothing. He could at least be relived that her belt was still brown and not black, that would be a bit much.

"We are on the corner mat." Wufei said, nodding his head towards the other side of the large hall.

"Cool."

The smell of sweaty bodies and that distinct smell of the mats rolled over him as they walked across the hall. The sound of instructions being called out, the students responses and the sound of bodies hitting the ground echoed through the hall. It brought back a lot of memories.

Their mat was in the furthest corner, with a bamboo room-divider on the two open sides. He was grateful that they were slightly out of sight since he had a feeling that he was going to have his ass handed to him pretty fast.

The men bowed respectfully to the mat before walking out on it to start. They did the warm up together, push-ups, sit-ups and a few basic katas. Duo was horrified to see just how much of his training he had forgotten. Wufei might not have practised all that hard the last few years because of all the surgeries and his studies, but he had at least tried to keep it up.

It didn't take long before Duo realized that he now days had even less of a chance of winning then before. Wufei was stronger, his grip was tighter and he was a lot heavier then before. Duo might as well have rolled over on his back before they even started.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo slapped his hand against the mat once again, signalling that he was giving up. Wufei let go of his arm and rolled off his back. With a sigh Duo got back on his feet and pulled his clothes straight.

"Giving up?" Wufei teased, getting into position.

Duo glared. "No."

Wufei just smirked.

Duo swore that he was not leaving until he managed to take him down at least once.

They bowed, starting all over again. A kick was delivered towards his head and he quickly blocked it, aiming a fist at Wufei's chest. Miss.

Wufei elegantly moved to the side, avoiding Duo's punch easily before gripping his forearm. Duo hardly got a second to think before he was thrown over Wufei's shoulder, landing heavily on the mat. But with a quick roll he still managed not to get pinned under Wufei.

Wufei's leg glided over his thigh in a try to get a hold of him. Duo twisted to the side again, barely managing to get away. He rolled, got to his feet and quickly turned back to his opponent who was already moving towards him.

A kick, block. Punch, duck, kick, hit. Back and forth they danced together.

Duo remembered a time when training used to be foreplay for the two of them.

They used to spare in the dojo, getting all hot and bothered before going home to fuck. Sometimes they didn't even make it home. He remembered one time when then they ended up having sex in the car that was still standing on the parking lot, barely ten meters from the entrance.

Duo feigned a high kick but in the last second twisting to aim at the back of Wufei's knee. He caught Wufei by surprise and as the knee gave out from his kick, Duo caught Wufei's arm and twisted it behind the other man's back. They tumbled to the floor, Wufei on his stomach with his arm locked behind his back, Duo leaning heavily over him. Wufei tried to get away but Duo's grip was too strong.

The sound of those two slaps against the mat was among the most satisfying Duo had ever heard.

"Yes!" He let go and raised his fist towards the sky in victory, attracting some attention from the people practising on the mat next to theirs.

Wufei rolled over and sat up. "One time out of, what? Ten?"

"Ignoring the sad loser. Time for the victory dance." Duo improvised a quick dance involving a lot of fist pumping and a air guitar solo before turning to his sparing partner. Wufei was standing with his arms crossed with a look on his face that, on Meilan, Duo would have called a pout. On Wufei it looked like he was trying not to kill him.

"Again?" Wufei asked hopefully.

"Hell no! I have to milk this all I can. I won, you lost, you were defeated. I am the champion!" Duo did another victory dance.

Wufei just grabbed his things and walked away. Duo picked up his water bottle and hurried to catch up to him. This was just a too good opportunity to not annoy his friend. He waited until they were out of sight from the training hall before he started.

He swaggered flamboyantly along the corridor next to Wufei. "I feel good, na na na na na na na, I knew that I would, na na na na na na na, so good, so-" Duo sung happily, only to get cut off by a sharp yank of his braid.

"I get the point." Wufei grumbled.

Duo stuck his tongue out, restraining the urge to rub the back of his head. "Damn, Wu. You are such a bad loser."

"Shut up." Wufei muttered. "I'm not, you are just rubbing it in."

Duo cleared his throat. It was going to take a lot more then some hair pulling for him to let this go. "We are the champion my friend!" he ducked Wufei's fist, still singing. "And we'll keep on fighting to th- oww!" Duo rubbed his abused shoulder.

Wufei lowered his fist. "God, you are such a brat."

Duo grinned, bouncing a bit on his toes. "God is a brat? Oh damn, that explains so much."

Wufei glared.

Duo skipped a head a few steps before raising his voice. "The winner takes it all!" Wufei bared his teeth, quickening his steps. Duo did the same, trying to get away. "The loser standing small!" Duo jumped out off the way from Wufei's flying punch. "Beside the victory!" He never got further with the song since he needed the air for running.

They came to an abrupt stop outside the door of the changing room. Luck was on his side as Wufei was restrained from hurting him when a couple of guys opened the door to walk past them. Panting Duo put his hand up against the wall, leaning down towards Wufei. "Are you sure that they didn't give you too much testosterone? You are getting a bit aggressive." Duo teased quietly, knowing that if he had been dealing with Meilan right now, she would have dislocated his balls.

Wufei shoved him into the doorframe as he walked into the changing room. Duo just snickered and followed him.

Duo felt good. Victory was sweet and he intended to keep pushing his luck. Duo rarely won before and by the looks of things, he was going to have to celebrate this opportunity big time because the next one was most likely far away.

Wufei was already unlocking his locker with his back turned slightly towards him in a childish but cute move to signal 'I'm not talking to you.' Duo wanted to ruffle his hair, hug him and place a kiss on that stiff neck. Instead he snickered loudly, making Wufei glare at him over his shoulder.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop." Duo laughed. "For now anyway."

Wufei just muttered.

Duo decided to give his friend a break. Besides, this would be much more fun if he brought it up at a later time. So instead of bothering Wufei, he unlocked his own locker. After taking his sweaty white outfit off and throwing it into his bag, he fastened a towel around his waist. He had a quick thought of trying to shower faster then Wufei so that he could slip the salt and pepper pot into his bag. He could try, but it might be a bit obvious. It really would make this day so sweet if he managed it. Not only did he defeat Wufei on the mat, he also would have won the next round of 'who owns the pots.'

He easily twisted his braid into a large bun on top of his head, securing it with a couple of long hair pins that he kept in his bag for this exact purpose. He took a second to flip a snickering Wufei off before closing his locker.

He was just about to remind Wufei of the disaster area that was his own hair when he did a double take to stare at his ex-girlfriends dick.

It looked very real where it was hanging from a bush of dark curly hair. If you knew that it wasn't, you could kind of tell that it was a bit too smooth and that there was something about the head that looked slightly off. But if he hadn't known he probably wouldn't have noticed a thing. Because it was a dick. A dick that was attached to his ex-girlfriend.

"Duo." The other man hissed. "I might not be an expert but I don't think males stare at each others cocks."

Duo blushed bright red as Wufei wrapped a towel around his waist. "Sorry." He apologized in embarrassment, happy that there were not a lot of people in the dressing room.

"Who was the gay one again?" Wufei whispered teasingly as he walked past him towards the showers.

Duo groaned as he followed, barely remembering to take the soap with him. Wufei was never going to let him live this down. "I was just a bit curious."

Wufei smirked over his shoulder as he walked in to the, thankfully empty, shower area and hung his towel up on one of the hooks. "Whatever, just keep your eyes to yourself, faggot."

Duo snorted in laughter as he did the same. "Yeah, well you better hang on tight to that soap, who knows what might happen if you drop it."

Wufei throw his soap up in the air, catching it easily. "I think I better watch my ass then."

At those words, Duo couldn't help but let his eyes wander down to the ass in front of him. It was a bit more masculine, but it looked more or less the same as Meilan's. It was a pretty nice ass.

"Duo!" Wufei hissed in warning.

Duo stumbled, feeling his face burn. "Sorry."

"Let me guess, just a bit curious." Wufei gave him a halfhearted glare over his shoulder as he turned on the shower. "You are an asshole." He stated.

Duo's eyes automatically went back down to Wufei's ass.

"Duo! "

"Sorry!" Duo hurried over to the shower, using the shower nods as an excuse to look down and hid his red face. "Not doing it on purpose."

"Could have fooled me." Was the amused snort coming from the man next to him.

"Well if you would just stop talking about asses." He muttered, wishing that he could melt and run down the drain.

Minutes later, Duo lost his grip on the slippery soap, making it slide over the tile floor. They both broke out in a almost hysterical laughter as they watched its journey. It was with a rush of relief that the tension fell away. Wufei was laughing, leaning against the wall while Duo himself was bent over with his arms wrapped around his stomach, trying but failing to stop laughing.

It made a couple of guys turn in the doorway, for some reason not wanting to shower at the same time as them.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

hihi, I made a Dogbert joke. Did you see it?

Well, the next chapter is the last one and it will most likely be posted on Friday.

Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and put this story on alert.

_**Cinnamon Selkie**_ - I'm glad you liked it :) Ah yes, the return of the shakers, Wufei sure wasn't going to give that fight up, this combined with a Duo who can't watch his mouth. Lovely :)_** princess cythera**_ - I do believe that Duo will grow a brain in the next chapter. If he doesn't, then I know quite a few people who would be a bit upset with me._** ShinyObsessed -**_ Well I'm happy to see you hooked -evil laughter- Yes, being in love with your straight ex really does not sound all that nice, does it. Poor Wufei._** DeceptiveInnocenceXIII **_- Now why didn't Duo think of that? Moving in would sure solve a lot of problems for the both of them :) Yes, it's a bit sad to see this story end, I've had a lot of fun writing it. Oh well, there are a lot of new plots out there, I should be fine._** BigSister2**_ - Well, I got you a dojo scene. Happy? XD Oh and thank you, I had a great time at the music festival. Actually, I had a -fantastic- time. At one point I actually thought "Life could not get much better then this." This was when I found myself in the middle of a dance floor, dancing to an amazing DJ while surrounded by about ten half naked, very attractive guys who danced like gods. -Happy sigh- Yeah, life is good._** Droaerion**_ - Yes, shakers and pots are exactly the same thing... I think. I totally relay on my beta for these kind of things but in my mind they are the same :) I think you're right, even the wallpaper wants them to get back together. Sorry boys, you're doomed XD


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"Duo! I'm so happy to see you." The short woman wrapped herself around him as soon as he came through the door. A familiar, comforting smell washed over him as he hugged her back.

"Mom, would you at least let him inside before attacking him?" Wufei protested from somewhere behind his mother.

The woman pulled back, smiling up at him. "Duo doesn't mind, do you, love?" She asked, stroking a soft hand over the side of his face.

Duo grinned and shook his head. Mrs. Chang was so different from his own mother whose version of an affectionate greeting was to pat him awkwardly on the shoulder. Mrs. Chang, or Fann as she insisted that he would call her, had become something of a mother for him during the five years that Meilan and him had been together. In fact, the entire family had welcomed him with open arms, something he had whole-heartedly accepted. It was nice to know that he was still welcome, even after dumping their daughter.

Wufei just sighed like Meilan always did when she felt embarrassed by her mother. Duo wanted to stand next to him and wrap an arm around his like he used to. Put a hand on Wufei's neck to remind him to relax. Let him lean against him. Lean down to whisper something funny to make him smile. But he didn't.

Instead he turned to Wufei's mother. "Did you have a nice trip here?"

"Oh fine, just fine. The airport was a mess, but what can you expect, really?"

Duo didn't get any time to respond before she turned away. "Chung-Fu! Duo is here!" She shouted into the apartment.

Wufei turned on his heal and escaped into the kitchen, clearly not wanting to be a part of the commotion.

A short, slightly over weight man walked past his escaping son and greeted Duo with a happy smile. "Duo, it's been a long time, it's good to see you."

"You too Mr. Chang."

"No no, none of that now, son. It's Chung-Fu for you, we are all family here."

Duo swallowed down a lump in his throat before nodding.

"Good, now come sit down, tell us what you have been up to." The older man steered him in to the living room.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

After more or less telling his former in-laws every single thing he had done the last three years, Duo decided to see how Wufei was doing. Duo knew that the other man loved his family but he also knew that he sometimes felt a bit cornered by them. They had a habit of babying him, never mind that he was 27 years old, an educated lawyer and the oldest of seven.

He found Wufei in the middle up lifting cupcakes on to a plate. Duo clearly recognized the cookie jar in Wufei's hand. It was one of the many plastic containers that would mysteriously appear in their apartment whenever Wufei's mother came to visit. They were always filled with different kinds of sweets, something he knew bothered Wufei big time. "How are you holding up, cupcake?" Duo teased as he walked up behind him, wrapping an arm over his shoulders.

Wufei mock glared at him before turning his attention back to the cupcakes. "Good, until I told them that you were coming over, then the whole family went nuts."

"What? Why?" Duo laughed.

"Mom became so excited that she has been running around, trying to make everything perfect, Dad has been doing the whole 'remember when' thing for hours now. The older girls decided that they needed new clothes if you were going to be here and decided to go shopping." Wufei suddenly snickered. "They are going to be devastated when they realized that you came early so they didn't have time to change their clothes."

Duo lifted an eyebrow in doubt. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Oh! Could you please make a comment about how they look a bit worn out from all the shopping, it would make my day."

"That would just be mean." Duo protested as he let his arm slide off Wufei's shoulders.

"What else should big brothers do?"

"Well you got a point there, then you can make the comment."

"But it would be much better if you did it. They don't care what I think, you on the other hand..." Wufei said with a leer.

Duo rolled his eyes as he opened another one of the plastic boxes on the counter, lifting up small sugar cookies, and putting them next to the cupcakes.

"Just so you know it, Yuen will most likely hit on you." Wufei said offhandedly.

"What?!" he exclaimed, almost dropping the box in horror.

Wufei gave him a strange look. "You mean that you never noticed that she had a crush on you?"

"No! Of course not, please tell me you are joking, please." He begged.

Wufei shook his head, his eyes never leaving the cupcakes. "No joke, she thinks you are free game now that we're broken up."

"But she's just a kid." Duo protested.

"...She's 22, you are just three years older then her."

Duo squirmed. "But she's your sister, she's practically -my- sister."

"Good luck, because she sure doesn't think of you as a brother."

"Oh hell, I can't believe this. I am so hiding behind you when she gets here." Duo muttered.

Wufei just laughed, bumping him with his hip. "Remember that party your mother had, when her actress friends got drunk on champagne?"

"What time?" Duo asked with a snort as he made a pyramid of cookies.

"When they started hitting on you."

Duo shivered involuntarily. Remembering the middle age women that more or less threw themselves over him. "My god, that was traumatizing."

"Personally, I think it was funny as hell." Wufei gave him an impish smile as he looked up at him from bellow his eyelashes.

"Funny? It was sure as hell not funny. The one with the big breasts pushed herself into the bathroom with me!"

Wufei snickered. "What was it that she told you? I only remember that it was hilarious."

Duo grimaced, hugging the cookie jar tightly. "She told me that she was tight like a twelve year old. Seriously, was that supposed to turn me on?"

Wufei roared in laughter and Duo couldn't help but join in.

"What's so funny?" Wufei's mother asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Duo shook his head violently, his laughter dying out instantly.

"Trust me mom, you don't want to know." Wufei snickered as he closed the lid on the box.

The woman sighed and muttered something about children. "Wufei, could you go outside and tell Risa and Rika to come inside, they are still at the playground."

Wufei brushed his hands off. "Sure Mom."

"I'll put the tea on. Then we need to set the table, the living room table should be big enough for all of us." she walked over to the counter and looked criticizing on the plate of cookies. "Don't you have a bigger plate? What happened to that big red glass plate?"

Wufei sighed. "That was Duo's plate."

"What about that other one? The blue ones?"

Wufei frowned. "The blue? What? The pizza plates?"

"Yes that's it. Where are they?" She looked around the kitchen like she expected it to just jump out into her hand, when it didn't she started searching through the cupboards.

Wufei shifted his jaw in annoyance. "Mom, we can just use two plates."

"It's better if we just use one." she said as she started searching through another cupboard.

Wufei looked like he was going to protest but Duo bumped him with his shoulder, that way telling him that there were no point in fighting her. Wufei glared, clearly not happy that Duo was taking her side. Duo brought his hand up to Wufei's tensed neck, reminding him, like he had done so many times before, to relax because he was stressing out over something pointless again.

Wufei sighed and went to get his shoes on.

Duo smiled fondly as he watched the retreating back, before quickly opening the first cupboard door he could reach. He fished two pepper pots out of his pockets and pushed them in behind a toaster, closing it softly as he turned to his former mother-in-law. She was in the middle of moving the cupcakes and the cookies over on a large blue plate, uncaring of the word 'pizza' on it.

"So where is the newest Chang?" He asked her as he snatched a small cookie with colorful sprinkles out off the open cookie jar on the counter. It was sweet and soft as it crumbled in his mouth.

A smile that could only be produced by a proud mother was turned towards him. "Shu is sleeping in Wufei's bedroom, would you like to see her?" She offered and Duo nodded eagerly.

"Yeah."

Together they walked over to the closed door next to the bathroom. Carefully pushing it open, Duo stepped into the dim room.

The small baby girl was lying on her back surrounded by pillows in the middle of the bed.

"No need to be quiet. She's a pretty heavy sleeper." Fann said with a laugh. "Thank god, or she would never get any sleep."

Just then the front door opened and the loud voices of several upset teenage girls were heard, closely followed by Wufei's unmistakable laughter. Mrs Chang sighed as she once again muttered something about children before she turned and left him alone in the dim bedroom. Duo's eyes never left the slowly rising chest on the bed.

For a second he only stood there, uncertain what he was going to do. He took a step forward, then another, only to stumble when he noticed just what bed the girl was sleeping on. It was the same one that Meilan and him had slept on when they were together. The presence of it felt like a punch in the stomach.

He bet that if he ran his hand over the underside of the wooden bed frame he would feel the dents from where he had rammed the vacuum cleaner into it.

He stumbled up to it and ran a shaky hand over the smooth headboard. This could still have been their bed. This could have been their bedroom... This could have been their child.

Duo carefully crawled up on the bed, moving one of the pillows to the side and curling up around the little girl.

She fussed slightly, kicking out with her feet against the soft blanket, but she stayed asleep.

She was beautiful. She really was. She didn't look a thing like Meilan, but the hair might as well have been styled to imitate her. He didn't dare to touch it, fearing that she would wake, but he bet that it would be just as soft as Meilan's.

He felt his eyes sting and he pressed them closed, refusing to cry. He spent a long time grieving things that could have been, and he was not going to start all over again. Life had not been the same since he walked out, leaving her behind. Many dreams and wishes, that he at one point thought was his future, never got the chance to see the light of day.

The girl let out a low, displeased sound and Duo found himself running a gentle hand over her chest. Shu settled down, her tiny fingers closing around his sleeve. Her grip might as well have been made of steel, because he could not move. He put his arm down next to her, curling up closer, smelling that clean, soft baby smell.

The thought struck him again. This could have been his child.

They never talked about having children, Duo had just always wished that they would, when Meilan was done with school and he found a job. They would get a house, settle down and have kids. Meilan would have been a great mother. She was strong and fearless, but at the same time one of the gentlest people he ever met. He missed her so damn much, but she was gone. Only that she wasn't really gone. Wufei made things more complicated. Because he was Meilan.

Duo felt such an overwhelming longing for things that were gone. He still loved Meilan so unbelievably much. There would never be anyone like her. Hell, there would most likely never be anyone but her for him. No one would ever be able to compare.

He thought back to the date with Quatre's sister. He had tried not to compare her to Meilan but it was impossible. Everything she said and did was measured up again Meilan and everything was found lacking.

Was there any wonder that he was still single? Not that he had tried all that hard to move on. Three years was spent trying to ignore that he was lonely. Three years of pretending that he was fine and he didn't feel an almost physical ache over Meilan's absence.

Duo sighed, running a finger over Shu's almost non-existing eyebrows. But now that he thought about it, he rarely felt alone now days. Especially when he knew that Wufei was going to be there, if he just called him. He was much happier with Wufei next to him, that he could not deny, but he never really thought about how just knowing that Wufei was around was doing the same. Just like Meilan used to.

He started thinking, it was inevitable not to. What really was the difference between Meilan and Wufei? Aside from the male thing, most things were the same.

Wufei was a lot calmer, he wasn't as focused on fighting everything and everyone for justice. He still fought but it was in a more 'the pen is mightier then the sword' kind of way instead of charging out armed with a protest sign.

Wufei was happier then Meilan had been, a lot happier. Duo wondered just how much of Meilan's anger and unhappiness could be boiled down to her-his transsexualism.

His thoughts went back to the brain thing that Wufei had been talking about. The whole thing felt much easier to understand then. The brain was the same, there had been no changes done there, just on the outside.

The brain and the mind had therefore always been Wufei's. Meilan was just a byproduct of society. The realization was hard to swallow because he had always associated his love with the hotheaded girl in his mind. He had not been in love with her body; he had loved that brilliant mind, the biting humor, the steel hard will, the fearlessness.

He turned his thoughts over to Wufei. Wufei was still all that, just with a different outside.

So in the end it all came down to the outside. 'It's the inside that counts', wasn't that what everyone said? Only that it was never the inside that he rejected, just the outside.

He moved his hand over the bed cover, wondering if he could have sex with another man. No, not another man, Wufei.

To feel those slightly rough hands move over his body. To have those strong legs wrapped around his waist. To sink into that heat. He thought it over.

Well, maybe.

Duo frowned. Thinking about it was a totally different thing from actually doing it. But really, what kind of person gave a shit about sex when you could have the love of your life?

He could still have that love, couldn't he? Wufei did tell him that he missed him during their years apart. There was still a chance that he would take him back. But the question was would Wufei want to risk it? Duo already pulled a runner when things got tough, in Wufei's eyes he just might do it again. Not to mention if it turned out that Duo couldn't have sex with him, what would happen then? Should they have an open relationship? Could they ignore the sex? Would Wufei even want to take a chance?

The questions rushed mercilessly through his head. He wanted to know and there was only one way to find out.

He rolled off the bed, quickly putting the pillow back in his place before turning to the door.

Meilan had without a doubt been the perfect girl for him and Wufei was Meilan, just in a slightly different package.

He hurried his steps, feeling light. Free in a way he had not felt in years.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

He found Wufei alone in the kitchen, filling a wooded tray with cups and plates.

Wufei looked up with a slight smile as he came in. "In the end she brought too many cookies and we needed two of the pizza plates. It still feels like a small victory to me." The last of the cups were lifted over. "Could you take the tea pot?" Wufei asked, nodding his head towards the porcelain teapot on the counter as he lifting the tray.

Not giving himself even a moment to think, Duo stepped in the way as the other man started walking towards the living room, feeling nervous and giddy. Wufei looked up at him in question.

Duo licked his lips, trying to find the words he wanted to say. "Did you ever wonder how things would have been if I had stayed?"

Wufei startled and gave him wide-eyed look before lowering his eyes. "Could we not do this now?" He mumbled, trying to sidestep him.

Duo stopped him with sweaty hand on his arm.

"Do you?" He asked again, his chest feeling too tight as his heart raced.

The porcelain cups rattled as Wufei's hands shock. They could hear the girls laughing in the living room, a sharp contrast to the heavy feeling loaming over them in the kitchen. Wufei closed his eyes as if in pain. "Every day." He whispered roughly.

Releasing a nervous breath, Duo went on. "I wondered too. If I had been more understanding, if you had glued me in earlier, if I-"

"Please." Wufei cut him off, his voice breaking. "Please Duo, if you don't mean what I think you mean, then don't do this to me. Don't you dare."

Duo smiled a bit sadly as he took the tray from Wufei's unsteady hands, putting it down on the counter. "I can't promise you that it will be perfect, we were never perfect, but I promise that I'm going to do everything I can to make it work." He took one of Wufei's shaky hands in his own sweaty one, holding it tightly

"Duo." His love breathed.

"Co- could we try again?"

Wufei released a shaky breath. "Like you even have to ask... asshole." He added as if an afterthought

Duo smiled, both in joy and relief. "Yeah, but I'm that lovable kind of asshole, aren't I?"

"God yes."

The kiss was so familiar that it made his heart jump. The only difference was the lack of breasts pressed up against his chest and the stubble that brushed against his own unshaved chin.

It was different, but just the same.

-The End-

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A/N

That was it. The end. Damn, I'm going to miss writing on this story. Well, all things must come to an end. I had fun, did you? If you did/didn't, then find it in your heart to click that button and tell me. It would make me very happy. Pleeeease?

Should I write a short epilogue or is this a good place to stop?

(A quick commercial break- For those of you who like Harry Potter and have a fascination for Percy, check out Roses in bloom's AU story 'When We Fall.' It' been horribly overlooked for some strange reason. Probably because it's not a Harry/Draco or a Harry/Anyone)

_**roses in bloom **_– It looks like the sucking up did work, because here is the update you wanted XD. I'm happy that you liked it. I'll just take the opportunity to suck up a bit myself so that you might update 'when we fall' Please update. Pleeease? –puppy eyes- _**BigSister2**_ – You have to enjoy you victories. I did my victory dance a while ago when I kicked my brothers ass in tekken 2. That he's a gamer and can kick my ass in any other game just makes it so much better XD. I've been wondering a bit myself, just who won the pot war? Duo did the last move so it all depends on how often Wufei uses his toaster… hmm. Oh, and about the festival. I had as fun as a non-single girl could. Meaning that I looked a lot and had my camera with me everywhere I went :D Unfortunately I didn't have it with me when a couple of the half naked ravers started dancing very close together, touching and grinding –whimper- So fucking hot! Well, at least I got to see it. –Happy sigh-_** TenshiNanashi**_ – I think I even got it up within an hour. Must be because I'm eating my breakfast while writing this. So how did you like the ending? I hope you're not too sad to see it end. :)_** shyalchemist**_ – LOL, I'm happy that you liked it. The wallpaper scene and the shower scene was actually some of my fav to write :) _**Ember ShadowFur**_ - Lol! Yes, I agree, sometimes the chapters just ends- and jumps around without an clear point. –shrugges- It just happened. I kind of wrote this story in small pieces that I then fitted into a whole story. This was the result. So, yes I agree with you, I'm just too lazy to do something about it XD Sorry. _**Kaeru Shisho**_ – Duo does seem like the type to sneak a peak at the first opportunity, doesn't he? I'm happy that both of you got their curiosity satisfied XD. And now when Duo finally got over the male thing then everything is well. I hope you liked it :) _**Droaerion**_ – Ahhahahaha! Oh god, I wish I had written that. Could you imagine the look on Duo's face if Wufei told him "I could have gone with a bigger dick, but that wouldn't become erect on it's own; it'd need a pump." Ahahah! Duo would have been staring at Wufei's crouch all day –takes a deep breath- right, I'm happy that you liked it. –snicker- _**Cinnamon Selkie**_ – Have I mentioned that I love it when you review? Because I do, I really do. It always puts a smile on my face. I'm thrilled that you liked it and I hope you enjoyed that last chapter. Especially since Duo finally stopped being so damn thick XD _**mili Maxwell**_ – Why thank you :) Maybe I need to work on my explanations because god knows my little sister can't follow my directions to my apartment. Oh well. I'm happy that you liked the story. _**EbonyOsmosis**_ – LOL! Yes, well Wufei probably thought that Duo needed to be taken down a bit after rubbing his victory in Wufei's face. I'm pleased that you liked the grumpy Wufei because he was really fun to write :) _**Ah Hael**_ – I'm glad you liked it. You're not the only one who would take a peak, hell, I would be flat out staring and trying to stop myself from poking it :) I hope you liked the ending. _**Hugglesbunny**_ - And now it's over. I hope you enjoyed the ride :) I can just imagine. You and me staring at Wufei's crouch, poking it with a stick while discussing if it looked real… than I can imagine Wufei killing us, but oh well. XD


	16. Epilogue

Epilogue

Life as a gay man was actually not much different than life as a straight man. There were a few rude comments and looks, but not as much as he expected.

Hell, he had gotten worse while he was still together with "Meilan". To have a girlfriend who looked a lot like a guy while you had hair down to your ass often gave people the impression that you were gay.

Other then that, not much changed.

They had planned to take things slow and not rush into anything. But for some reason, everything just fell back to how it used to be. And two weeks later, Wufei moved in with him.

The whole thing was remarkably uneventful. If you didn't count the argument over where the antique furniture were going to stand, the argument over who's dining room table was going to get thrown away, who's rug should lie under the coffee table, who's coffee maker was better and if Duo would get to keep his wardrobe even if you could make the whole thing shift just by poking it... so yeah, for being them, the whole thing was very uneventful.

Wufei wanted them to get a bigger place, claiming that the kitchen was far too small and that they needed more room. But Duo refused to waste money on something as trivial as kitchen space when they were saving up for something a lot more important. Surrogate mothers were expensive and who knew how long Wufei's eggs could survive where they were frozen.

Duo had never cried so hard in his life as when he found a receipt to a cryopreservation facility for female eggs while he was helping Wufei unpack. The proof that he still had a chance to have a family was so overwhelming that he had just collapsed to the floor, crying his eyes out. He had scared poor Wufei like crazy when he, for the longest time, couldn't stop crying long enough to reassure him that nothing was wrong. In fact, things could not get much better in his life.

His friends had taken the news of his "new" boyfriend very well. Quatre was unbelievably smug, telling everyone that he saw it coming from the second he met Wufei. Heero couldn't have cared less and Trowa laughed, really laughed, in a way that Duo didn't even know that his friend could.

Wufei's family, more or less, threw a party when they told them they were getting back together. Wufei was very happy that they waited until the family had gotten back home before telling them, clearly not wanting to be in the middle of that celebration. Duo couldn't help but tease him, saying that he was just scared of what his oldest sister was going to do to him. Wufei didn't respond, but he did buy his oldest sister a very nice and expensive gift for her birthday.

Even Duo's mother was happy for them. In fact, his mother was so supportive that it was almost scary.

When she found out that he was getting back together with Meilan, she had been far from happy, throwing a huge fit about how Meilan was a bloodsucking floozy who was going to destroy his life. But then when he told her about the sex change, the tone changed completely. She had been thrilled over the thought that her only son was gay and wanted them all to march in the pride parade.

She seemed to gloss over the part where Wufei actually was the same person as before and that she hated that person.

Wufei told him that he thought that his mother felt threatened when there was a woman that was becoming closer to Duo then her. Duo had pointed out that really wasn't all that hard since he really wasn't all that close to his mother. Wufei claimed that it didn't matter and that she was most likely going to hate every single woman Duo cameclose to.

Duo was really happy that he never introduced his mother to Wufei's mother, because if what Wufei said was true then there was an explosion on the way. He was going to have to hold them away from each other as long as he could.

They settled in comfortably together. In _separate bedrooms_. Because not everything went smoothly.

The sex took some time, but they got there, to the great relief of Wufei who later confessed that he thought that the lack of sexual release was going to kill him.

Duo just leered, telling him how much he loved karma.

Wufei responded by giving him a very detailed description about how he had obsessed over fucking Duo's ass raw over the last eight years or so. Duo didn't get the chance to say all that much after that, since he ended up being rather busy.

So yeah, nature might have screwed up a thing or two, but they managed anyway.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

First of all, don't fear –there will be more.

I'm not satisfied with this epilogue so I'm going to write a one shot "ten years later" story. It's going to be filled with the happy life of everyday parents. Dirty diapers, cranky children and _almost_ no sex.

Now, please take a second and tell me what you thought about the epilogue, I would be very happy if you did. Believe me, you will make my day if you do :)

Unfortunately I don't have time to answer all the lovely people who reviewed the last chapter. I have to get to work and for some reason I don't think my boss will accept review responding as an excuse for being late. Oh well, but I can tell you that every single review had me grinning like an idiot XD

A short message to Mili Maxwell – (Yes, :) there is a new story on it's way, There is always a new story coming from me ) Cinnamon Selkie and all the people reading "My Dark Eyed Wallflower."- ( My beta reader should be done with chapter 16 in about a month since she just moved across the globe. Chapter 17, the last chapter, is as good as done so it shouldn't take long.)


	17. Ten years later

A lot of people have pointed out that they think that the people around Duo and Wufei aren't reacting as violently as they think they should. I disagree.

I have several friends who are gay, living in a town that won the award for being the worst homo friendly town in the country – four years in a row. They get rude comments by drunk people, they suffered hell through school and people give them strange looks when they walk by. But still, most people do not react that strongly. Some are uncomfortable at first but they relax after a while when they realize that, no, they are not going to be groped. People are mostly polite but curious, they don't mean any harm.

Then there is Duo's mother. I actually sat along in a discussion with a couple of actors who all wanted their children to end up gay for a lot of reasons. So for me, Duo's mother is totally normal XD

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

_**Oh, and I'm not in the mood to care about peoples sensibilities. There is SEX in this chapter, if you can't stomach it, then don't read it.**_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

What Nature Screwed Up – Ten years later.

Life Is Good.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Jenny! We got to go! Come get your shoes on." Duo called out impatiently as he pressed another extra couple of diapers into the already over filled bag. The side pockets were all stretched to the limit and the middle zipper could very barely be closed, but only if you used force.

"Coming!" Was the chirping answer, but the sound of hurrying steps that he wanted to hear was absent. Duo groaned. Why did this happen every single time they were going somewhere? It was like no matter what time they would get started, they were always running around like headless chickens minutes before they -had- to leave. He went through his mental check list. Washcloth- both wet and dry, diapers, pacifier, extra pacifier, Treize stuffed frog-

Duo held the blue, smiling frog up for inspection. The thing was only half way covered in dried droll; it didn't need to be washed just yet. He stuffed it into the pocket of his hoody for easy access.

-blankets, hats, umbrella, lotion, baby food , spoons, bibs, towels, extra shirts for the boys-

"Are you coming? We are going to be late" Wufei said impatiently as he stuck his head through the open front door. The 'again' was left unsaid.

"I'm almost done, are the twins in the car?" He asked as he swung the bag up on his shoulder and made sure that he had his keys, phone and wallet- damn where was his wallet?

"Yeah, start the car would you, I'll take Jenny."

"Yeah, have you seen my wallet?"

"In the stroller bag."

"Right, good." Duo muttered and went for the front door while Wufei picked up a pair of bright pink sneakers with purple butterflies on them and steered his steps towards the stairs.

Duo hurried outside, throwing the bag in next to the folded stroller in the back of the car, not even stopping the check if his wallet really was in there before jogging over to the driver seat.

A minute later the front door opened and closed behind a stressed looking Wufei.

"Daddy! I forgot my Barbie!" The four year old protested from where she was being carried by her running father. "We have to get my Barbie!" She desperately tried to convince him as he opened the door to the backseat.

"Your anorectic antichrist will still be here when we get back." Wufei muttered absently as he sat her down on the car seat and leaned in over her to fasten her seatbelt. He then stepped back to close the door.

Duo couldn't help but snicker as he watched his daughter's confused face in the rearview mirror. Wufei jumped into the passenger seat, slamming the door with a- "Go!" Duo hit the gas.

A quick look at the clock on the dashboard told him that they just might make it in time to Jenny's kindergarten introduction.

Ten minutes and a few broken traffic rules later they parked outside the kindergarten. Working as a well practiced team, they got the stroller out and the five month old twins into it. Jenny was held in a secure grip by Duo so that she wouldn't explore the water poodles along the edge of the parking lot or the water filled ditch next to it. Because no matter how much she liked her new "My Little Pony" dress, there were no way that he trusted her to stay clean anywhere near wet mud.

Making sure that they had everything with them, they hurried their steps towards the building. As they opened the door, they breathed out a sigh in relief at the chaos that met them on the other side. Children were running around, screaming, laughing, and crying - while their parents tried their best to create some order while getting their jackets and rubber boots off.

It was good to know that you weren't the only ones who had to live through it. Jenny tugged on his hand, trying to get lose with her eyes stuck on the colorful playroom that they could see straight into through the open door on the other side of the coatroom. He managed to get her to stay still long enough to get her coat and shoes off while Wufei were doing his best to comfort Treize, who must have been startled by the sudden volume change when they stepped in.

"Daddy, come on." Jenny urged impatiently as she tugged him towards the door. It was clear that no matter how exited she was, she was not going in there without back up. Duo looked over at Wufei who gave him a dismissive wave with his free hand, as if to say that he had the situation under control.

Duo kicked his shoes off at the red line painted on the floor with a picture of a crossed over rubber boot and a sneaker above it. Continuing in their socks, they approached the doorway. Jenny was holding his hand in a iron grip as she looked around the room, both in apprehension and excitement.

The bright room was filled with mattress, pillows and toys. The walls were painted in a light peach color with large windows overlooking the playground outside.

Children were running around like dizzy puppies, building forts and driving plastic cars around with loud sound effects.

He could feel Jenny start to gravitate toward the colorful blocks that a few kids were lifting out of a large plastic container. They were building what looked like an unsteady tower.

Duo pulled her forward by the hand without following. "Go play." He said softly and without another glance at him, she went for the blocks.

Duo smiled proudly as he watched her and another girl start to build something together. Jenny was reminding him more and more of Wufei for everyday. Just as brave, loyal - not to mention stubborn.

He took a few steps back so that he wouldn't be bothering their seemingly complicated building operation. And really, what child wanted to have their parent hovering over them?

"Duo?"

Duo turned around and came face to face with a familiar man. It took him a second to remember his name. "Peter, hey." He greeted his childhood friend. "What are- You're living here now?"

The short, bearded man smiled as they shock hands. "Yeah, we moved here a few weeks ago, not that you could tell from all the boxes all over the place."

Duo laughed, pulling his hand back to hook his thumb into his jeans pocket. "Don't get me started on boxes. We have several standing in the garage and we moved in almost two years ago. "

Peter chuckled. "So I'm guessing that I don't have to ask what brings you hear since it's kind of obvious."

"Sure is, that's my daughter over by the blocks in the pink dress." He said, flicking his head towards her.

Peter smiled. "Cute, doesn't look a thing like you thankfully."

Duo playfully punched his old friend in the arm. "Shut it, I'll have you know that she has my nose and my chin." He grinned, looking around the room. "So what poor kid is yours then?"

Peter turned to his right, pointing towards the far side of the room. "Dark haired boy in the red t-shirt."

"The one being responsible for a rather tragic flight accident I'm guessing." Duo said as they watched the kid 'crash' two planes together, enthusiastically imitating the sound of it.

"That would be him." Peter grinned. "That kid goes through toys faster than anyone I have ever seen." He turned back to Duo. "So, I'm guessing that you're still together with Meilan."

Duo opened his mouth to say yes, only to close it again. He never really knew what to say in a situation like this. He was still together with Meilan, only that to everyone else – it looked differently.

Neither of them liked the reaction tat most of the people had wen they found out about Wufei's gender switch. It was like they couldn't understand why someone would want to go from being in a normal relationship to being in one that society didn't fully approve of.

They thought Wufei was selfish, both towards Duo and their children. That he put his own whim before his family's needs and reputation. They just didn't understand that something that nature did wrong had been put right, not the other way around. In their world it was easy. Female body = female. But they knew differently, because Wufei sure as hell wasn't a female.

Duo didn't feel like going through all that, especially with a childhood friend in the middle of a playroom. "Nah, we broke up over ten years ago." He replied easily.

Peter blinked in surprise and looked over to where a miniature replica of Meilan was carefully putting blocks up on top of a tall tower together with a giggling, blond girl. Duo shrugged. "I guess you could say that Meilan surrogated for us."

"Us?"

Duo turned slightly to his side, nodding his head towards Wufei who was kicking his shoes off over by the door with Timmy in the baby carrier and Treize cradled against his chest.

Peter's mouth dropped open as he watched Wufei walk over to them.

"Here, take him." Wufei said as he handed Treize over to him. "Timmy needs to be changed."

Duo easily maneuvered his youngest son up against his shoulder, brushing his fingers over Wufei's in support as the other man went back the same way he came.

Peter had been a good friend both to him and to Meilan and it was obvious that Wufei was a bit sad that he couldn't greet his friend like he wanted to.

Usually, it was easier for Wufei to pretend to be someone new. The aternative was to ether try to figure out a believable lie to why he knew someone who didn't recognize him, or try to explain a lifelong gender crisis. That was something that he knew that Wufei did not want to do, especially not in the middle of a kindergarten.

Peter seemed to be more than a little lost for words so Duo decided to help him along a bit. "Yeah, I'm gay now –or bi, not that it matters since I married him almost eight years ago." He said, with a smile.

Peter gave him a wide eyed look. "Oh… well that was a surprise."

Duo snorted. "Tell me about it, I sure didn't see it coming."

"I assume that's the reason why Mei- erh, sorry. Not my business."

Duo just waved his hand, in a unintentional imitation of Wufei. "Nah, don't worry about it. It's a bit complicated, but let's just say that Meilan get along very well with me and my family. There are no hard feelings between us."

Peter nodded, looking happy to hear it. "Oh, that's good. Wish I could say the same thing about my old girlfriends. But on the other hand, Meilan was something else."

Duo chuckled as he bounced Treize slightly when the baby started to become restless. "That she is."

"What is she up to now days? Did she ever go to law school like she wanted?"

"Yeah she did, top of her class and everything." Duo smiled proudly.

"That's great, what's she doing now days?"

This was the part that Duo hated. He didn't want to lie but at the same time, he couldn't tell the whole truth. Luckily, he was saved from answering as a one of the kindergarten teachers clapped her hands, getting everyone's attention. "If all the parents would come into the dining room, then we can start the introduction." The happily smiling woman said, gesticulating in through one of the open doors at the end of the play room. Like a flock of sheep, the parents started walking.

In the dining room, there were several tables standing in neat lines with all the chairs turned so that they were facing the back wall. A whiteboard was standing on a easel, happily proclaimed "Welcome parents" in big colorful letters.

"We'll talk later." Peter said, slapping him on the shoulder as he went to join his wife who had already taken a seat in the front of the room.

Duo nodded as he stood back to take one of the chairs in the back, close to the door so that Wufei didn't have to look for him when he got back.

Treize started fussing, kicking his legs in annoyance as he gave of a low complaining whine. A whine that slowly started to grow in strength. Digging around in his pocket for a moment, Duo managed to find the stuffed frog and danced it around in front of the baby's face. Treize screeched happily, trying to grab it with his small, chubby fingers. Duo handed it over and the child instantly started sucking on the frog's rubber fingers. He stroke his sons back, happy to have avoided a loud tantrum.

There were a few others with small children but most seemed to be here with only the soon to be kindergarteners. From his seat in the back, Duo could easily overlook all the rest of the parents. There were about ten couples there, all looking wholesome and proper, like something out of a movie. As usual, they were the only same sexed couple. Not that he was surprised. Most people were too polite to say anything but he could tell that they were curious. Let them look, they would get used to them soon enough and then they would be old news.

Someone lightly touched his shoulder and he looked over at a smiling young woman standing next to him. "Hallo, I'm Danielle, I just thought that since you seemed to be here on you're own, I would keep you company." Her whole approach just screamed 'single mother on the prowl.'

Duo quickly made sure to disillusion her. "Well my husband is changing one of the kids but feel free to sit down." He really should start wearing his wedding ring more often when he wasn't at work.

Her face fell but she sat down anyway, clearly feeling out of place. Duo could sympathize. Being the odd man out quickly became tiring. By the look of it, she was the only one there alone and the way she held herself made it obvious that, she not only was a single mother, she was also a lot younger than the rest of them. Duo guessed that she couldn't be older then 19 or 20. She really stood out among all the seemingly normal, happy couples.

"So, which one is yours?" Duo asked the woman, trying to make her feel more at ease.

She seemed to snap out of her low thoughts and smiled proudly. "That would be Jennifer who's strangling the white bunny over there." She turned around in her seat, pointed out the door towards the back of the playroom where a small blond girl with a stuffed bunny under her arm were building a tower with Jenny.

Duo grinned at the irony as he watched the two giggling girls. Jenny and Jennifer, yeah, he had a feeling that they were going to be stick together for years to come. He might as well get to know her mother because they would going to be seeing a lot more of each other in the future. "Ah, that would be the girl playing with my daughter then."

He saw Jenny pause and wave happily towards someone, a second later, Wufei walked in with Timmy probed up on his arm. Duo smiled when his husband brushed against his shoulder as he moved to sit down in the chair next to him. Timmy was hanging limply over his shoulder, drooling over the towel that Wufei placed under him.

"Hey Wu, this is- sorry, what was your name again?" He turned towards the young woman.

"Oh, Danielle, nice to meet you."

"Danielle, this is Wufei, Wufei this is the mother of Jenny's new best friend." Wufei tilted his head to look over at the two girls while Duo went on. "And I'm Duo, this is Treize." He hefted the frog chewing baby up further on his shoulder." And the sleeping wonder would be Timmy."

"Nice to meet you." She said, smiling gratefully. One of the kindergarten teachers stepped up in front of the parents and cleared her throat to get their attention. She was a tall, slightly intimidating woman wearing a light blue blouse and a neat pair of pants. The red, pointy glasses that rested on her nose seemed to glare them all in to submission.

"Welcome everyone, we will start by going through the basics, then we will tell you a bit of what we have planned for the year. We will be taking a short coffee break before we go on."

Duo tilted his head to the side, leaning his cheek against his son's soft hair as he listened.

The sun was shining through the windows along the side of the room, defining the heavy rain clouds that earlier had covered the entire sky. One of the teachers had closed the door to the playroom but you could still make out the happy shouts and giggles coming from the other side. Duo sighed happily, soaking in the comforting surrounding.

Treize gave off a soft noise in protest as he transferred him from one arm to the other. Babies might be small but they were pretty heavy to carry around.

The woman with the scary glasses went on, telling them in detail just how sick a child could be before they had to stay at home. He heard Wufei's soft, annoyed sigh where he was re-crossing his arms, clearly getting impatient. Duo suspected that the only reason why his foot wasn't tapping was because he had placed the sleeping Timmy in his lap.

Duo reached out and took a hold of his hand, holding it gently in his own, playing with his fingers. He hoped that it would distract him from the kindergarten teacher who was more or less treating all the parents like idiots.

If you're child was throwing up, you shouldn't take them to the kindergarten. No. Really?

Luckily, he was getting better at distracting Wufei from his hunt for justice. Back in the 'Meilan era' Wufei had always had a thing for taking the 'little guys' side. In those days, Duo would just take a step back while nodding and smiling at the right places. Now, when Wufei was had been working as a lawyer for a few years and had more or less memorized the law book, Duo took it upon himself to hold Wufei back.

It was one thing if Wufei wanted to help their neighbor get custody of his children from his alcoholic ex-wife or if the landlord wouldn't fix the water damage under the tub. That was all well and good. It was a completely different thing if Wufei wanted to take on cigarette companies, toy manufactures or the government itself in search for justice.

He found, that as long as he managed to distract him before Wufei got himself worked up, then everything was fine and Duo didn't have to worry about rants, lawsuits or a over worked husband

The woman in the front had moved on and were now more or less telling them how to raise their children. Wufei opened his mouth, probably to protest and Duo decided that it really was time to distract his husband. Fortunately, Wufei was a lot easier to distract then when he'd been as a girl. He wrapped a finger around Wufei's middle finger, moving it up and down, up and down. And just like that, Wufei was distracted and had forgotten all about what he had planned to say.

It was just too easy.

Wufei gave him a heated look that told him all about what was going to happen in their bedroom later on when the children were asleep in their rooms.

Duo was really happy that they weren't living in his small apartment anymore. Their sex life would be non-existing it they were. A large house with some distance between the bedrooms really was a blessing.

It was a good thing that Wufei had gotten promoted because god knows that car mechanics didn't make all that much money. They would have been living in the fish factory until they retired if they had been living on his salary.

He was even more grateful to Wufei's salary when it came to their children. As it was, it had taken them four years to get the money they needed and another year to find a fitting surrogate mother for Jenny. About five years after that, the twins were born and he couldn't have been happier.

Duo smiled sadly, stroking his son's back.

Well, he could be, but what could you expect when your mother hated his mother in law. He had managed to keep them away from each other for almost two years until Wufei popped the question.

You couldn't -not- invite your mother to your own wedding, no matter how much you wanted to.

The whole thing had gone to hell from the start.

His mother had been as emotional as he had ever seen her when he meet her right before the weeding. She even hugged him, something that he couldn't remember happening since he was a small child. Then Fann showed up and showered him with kisses before crying in happiness all over his chest.

His mother sure didn't like that. It only got worse when Fann started calling him son and remarked that he really was already a part of the family but it was nice that it was going to be in name as well. Luckily, his mother was a good enough actress to fake her way through the wedding, the party afterwards on the other hand was something Duo tried not to think about. There had been far too many drunk relatives in one room for his taste. They had started the weeding night very early just to get away from it.

Duo rearranged Treize against his shoulder as he listened as the kindergarten teachers told them about the different kind of fieldtrip that they were going to have during the year. From the playroom they could hear the loud, happy voices of the children. Duo smiled gently. He just knew that Jenny was going to love it here.

Wufei squirmed again, over god knows what injustice, tensing and relaxing his jaw as if he was trying to hold in a protest.

Pretending to stretch out his arm, Duo let it rest against the back of Wufei's chair. Slowly, he started to trace circles in the back of the other mans neck. He instantly had Wufei's attention. Scratching his nails up and down he got a happy little sigh and a unclenched jaw as Wufei relaxed. Deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, he let his arm drop down to the seat, before more or less discreetly pushing his hand down the back of Wufei's pants. He had just enough time to grab a feel before Wufei's startled jump woke Timmy up. The baby started up in a fire alarm sounding wail, attraction the attention of everyone in the room.

"Excuse me." Wufei mumbled, looking embarrassed as he got to his feet. Duo's hand slipping away unnoticed and he smiled, feeling pleased with himself. Wufei glared at him as he hurried past him out the door. He was so going to pay for that later.

The kindergarten teacher pushed her glasses up at the interruption. "We might as well take our break now. The coffee will be served in the kitchen, Marie here will be serving lemonade and some cookies for the children."

The parents started to get to their feet, stretching and moving towards the kitchen door. There were quite a few curious looks being sent towards the back of the room.

Danielle watched the parents go with badly concealed jealousy.

Duo knew what she was thinking or more exactly, what she wished for. To be just another normal couple that no one paid any special attention to.

He knew, because he felt the same as he saw a few parents whisper between themselves as he walked past them. There were some rare days when he wished that Wufei had never done that sex change. That he could just walk down the street, holding his lover's hand without having people stare. There were days when he had to remind himself that those people were the once who were wrong, not them. Luckily, as time went by, it was easier and easier to remember that.

A part from the curious looks, he mostly didn't really think much about it anymore. He had gotten so used to Wufei's new body that he could hardly remember how it had looked before. Not to mention that he knew that Wufei would never be truly happy as a female, not the way he was now. The looks were annoying, but they didn't hurt, they didn't make him feel ashamed or like an outsider, not anymore.

He had learned to accept a lot of changes to the point that almost nothing really bothered him anymore. Wufei sometimes teased him, saying that he had found enlightenment. But in a way, he was right. Duo had found peace in his way of life, he knew what he wanted and he was content. More than content, he loved his life. But that didn't mean that he didn't feel a twitch of resentment towards all the normal looking people who stared in badly counseled curiosity as he took Wufei's hand. But people were curious, there was not much to do about that.

After waiting a few minutes in line over by the kitchen counter, he poured himself and Danielle some coffee. She quietly thanked him and they made their way back to their seat, turning the chairs back to the table and sat down.

The young woman on the other side of the table played with her cup, turning her eyes away from the rest of the parents. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you taking your daughter to kindergarten while you still have babies to take care of, wouldn't it be easier to just have them all at home?"

Duo gave a slight shrug with his free shoulder. "Well, we could, but we live in a neighborhood where there are not a lot of kids around, so we figured that we might as well take her here where she can make friends." Wufei might think it was perfectly normal for a four year old to have several imaginary friends, but Duo for one was sick of setting the table for three 'people' who wasn't there. Thank god that he had managed to convince her that invisible people ate invisible food and not the same food as they did. "Not to mention that two five month olds are kind of a handful on their own." The adorable shit producers were luckily pretty timed so that when one was hungry, the other one was soon to follow. Which was why he took an extra sniff every now and then to check when it was time to change on Treize.

"I took time off to take care of the kids, but I'm going back to work next week and after then it's going to be Wufei's turn. He planned to work from home." Duo snorted lightly. "How well that's going to works out is something we are just going to have to wait and see." He leaned his head away from Treize as he took a sip of his coffee, careful not to spill anything. He had a hard time understanding how Wufei planned on preparing his cases while he had two bored babies demanding attention. But if anyone would manage, it was Wufei.

He looked up as his smiling daughter ran in to the room. "Daddy! Daddy, look, they have Barbie dolls." She grinned, pulling at his hoody, as if to make sure she had his full attention.

Duo nodded. "Well, look at that." He said neutrally as he looked at the dolls in her hands.

"This one is a princess because she has a crown." She held up the smiling doll that was indeed wearing a crown with pink rocks that matched her worn looking, pink dress.

"Really, that's nice." Duo was a master at nodding and smiling, not to mention faking interest. "And this one?" He asked, tapping the doll she had in her other hand.

Jenny frowned down at the smiling doll. "She's not a real Barbie because she has dark hair. She's the princess's… the princess's… the one who cleans and comb her hair."

Duo bit back a laugh, happy that Wufei wasn't around to hear this, he would throw a fit. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, Jennifer has a mermaid Barbie that's a princess too."

Duo smiled and nodded while Jenny prattled on about Barbie dolls, their house, clothes, pets and shoes that for some reason were always missing.

Jenny had turned out to be a very "girly" girl, much to Wufei's horror. She only played with dolls and things that were pretty. Everything, from her toys to her clothes and toothbrush had to be in bright, feminine colors. Wufei had tried to talk her out off the baby pink wallpaper with smiling princesses and unicorns that she wanted. That talk didn't go all that well and in the end they didn't just put up the wallpaper, they got her the matching curtains, rug and bedcover. Because for some reason, the four year old did not understand that she was being brainwashed to be a part of a 'preposterous standard which females struggled to reach to feel accomplished and that she should revolt against societies norms' as Wufei put it.

Instead she delivered the killing argument. "I like pink!" closely followed by her weapon of mass destruction -tear filled eyes.

The poor father found himself completely defeated. Pink wallpaper it was, even if it made Wufei shudder every time he entered the room.

As fast as she had come, she disappeared again, leaving her amused father behind.

"Cut kid." The young woman remarked.

"That she is, got me wrapped around her finger like no one else." He had a bit larger chance to win against Wufei, but not by much. At least that was what he tried to convince himself of.

"Believe me, I know. Jennifer has me and my mother under her thump."

Duo chuckled, rearranging the baby on his arm.

Wufei came back empty handed and happily steered his steps towards the large pots to served himself some coffee. Duo watched him with a smile, wondering just how Wufei was going to get back at him for his little stunt.

Wufei came back, cradling the plastic cup in his hands. "Timmy is dead asleep in the stroller, you think Treize is ready for a nap soon?" He asked as he sat down in the chair next to him.

Duo stroke the back of the baby's head. "Probably, he's been really good today."

"I just hope that Timmy will sleep tonight since he's been asleep for larger part of the day."

Duo snorted. "That kid lives to sleep, I don't think it will be a problem."

They two brothers were pretty different. Timmy was smaller, calmer and spend most of his time sleeping while Treize was bigger, more energetic and closer to tears and screams.

But by god, he loved them just the way they were.

He looked over towards the playroom, through the open door, checking Jenny by habit more than worry. At first he couldn't find her, then he saw her leave trough a open door, carrying a doll with curly blond hair. She was closely followed by Jennifer who was also caring a doll. He was amused to see that Jenny was comforting the 'crying baby' the same way as Wufei sometimes did, by tipping the baby back and forth until it got distracted and stopped crying.

"So, if everyone is ready, we'll start again." The woman in the glasses said with a happy smile, making Duo wonder if she was on drugs. People who changed dippers for a living shouldn't be that happy. He spun his chair around again, settling in to listen.

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"So, did you like it?" Duo asked as he held the door open for his family.

Jenny skipped over to him and he took her small hand in his. "Yeah, they have a doll room with a stow and a vacuum-cleaner and a table to change the diapers and beds and clothes-"

Duo nodded as she went on to describe all the toys she had played with and the doll that could pee when you feed it.

"It's all a part of societies brainwashing to make females fit into predetermined gender roles." Wufei muttered angrily under his breath and Duo just knew that the kindergarten teachers were going to hate Wufei and his feministic ideas.

"Could you please wait with the feministic revolution until after she has settled down." Duo sighed in a frustrated voice as the door closed behind them.

"Daddy! Listen." The girl demanded, giving him an identical glare to the one Wufei was giving him from his other side. Duo bit back another sigh. There was no way that he was ever going to win.

"Sorry princess, what did you say?" He asked as he pried one of Wufei's hands away from the stroller and lazed their fingers together. His daughter smiled and he could just feel Wufei doing the same thing. Life was good.

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That evening the two of them curled up in front of the television, trying to unwind from the stressful day. They were watching some a romantic action movie that, so far, was not impressing ether of them.

"It's going to feel so strange to go back to work." Duo mumbled into his husband's hair. Wufei was sitting between his legs, leaning back against his chest where he was watching the screen with barely open eyes.

"I can imagine, don't forget to ask the blond about having you work half days on Fridays."

"The blond?" Duo snickered. "Are you still pissed at Quatre?"

"Of course I am! He destroyed seven files and countless of very important legal documents."

"He didn't do it on purpose." Duo reminded him, kissing the top of his head.

"It doesn't matter. It was fucking embarrassing to show up at meeting after meeting with his mess all over my papers."

"Maybe I'll suggest that he should give me the time off if he ever wants to get into your good grace again."

Wufei crossing his arms with a huff. "We'll see."

"Well speaking of coffee, I want coffee." He shoved Wufei with his elbow. "Give me coffee."

"I shouldn't give you anything for that stunt you pulled today." Wufei grumbled stubbornly.

"Oh but you can't deny me." Duo rubbed his nose against the back of Wufei's ear. "Give me coffee," His nibbled the shell. "Please Mei." He whispered, sucking the ear into his mouth.

"Oh for the love of, fine." Wufei grumbled as he got to his feet, rubbing his wet ear.

"Thank you." Duo said sweetly as he turned back to the television.

Ah yes. Life was good. Unfortunately, this movie wasn't. The hero, who was far too good looking to be working as a cleaner had gotten a hold of a magical medallion that was giving him magical, fighting skills that the hero used to fight evil. The medallion also appeared to help him lose his shirt over and over again. Duo suspected that magical ability to be the main reason why they were still watching the movie.

The sound of small running feet came closer and closer until the hurricane that he liked to call his daughter came through the door. "Daddy look! I made you a necklace." She held the string that was covered random, colorful pearls out to him.

"Thank you princess. Did you do this all on your own?" He asked admiring the plastic pearls.

She nodded happily as she climbed up next to him on the couch.

"Yes! Take it on." She urged him, bouncing in excitement.

With a more or less sincere smile, Duo lifted the necklace to pull it over his head. It was a tight fit and Duo almost had to sacrifices the tip of his nose to get it on. "There, am I pretty now?" He asked as he lifted his chin to show off the necklace.

The girl giggled. "Yeah, I'm going to make one for dad too."

"You do that princess, I'm sure he will be very happy." He said, holding his laughter in.

With one last smile she turned and ran back the way she came.

Oh man, Wufei was going to just love this. He snickered to himself as he turned back to the movie. The hero had just managed to save the girl and were fighting off several mean looking thugs to get them out of the bad guys hideout. Duo snorted as he watched the hero deliver a clumsy kick to one of the men's head. "Even I could do better than that." He mumbled. "This movie sucks." He was about to reach for the remote, but just then the hero lost his shirt again. Duo leaned back, remote forgotten.

A few minutes later, Wufei came back with two steaming mugs and a couple of cookies on a plate. He sat it all down on the table before doing a double take as he was about to sit down. "I think you're taking the gay thing a bit too far." He said, hocking a finger around his new necklace.

"You just wait, you'll get your own any time now." Duo reached out to get a hold of his mug.

"Hm." Was all Wufei said as he sat back down, making himself comfortable.

And as he predicted, just a few minutes later, Jenny was back once again with a present.

"Thank you, it's really pretty." Wufei said, sounding completely sincere. "I'm going to take really good care of it and only wear it on special occasions."

Jenny was almost vibrating in pride by the time Wufei was done with his praise and on his encouragement she ran off to make one for uncle Quatre.

"That was mean." Duo remarked with a smile. "You know that Q can't say no to her."

Wufei smirked. "That would teach him to keep track of his coffee mugs."

"You do realize that she'll make you wear it when you're dressed up to meet a new client, right?"

"Nah." Wufei denied easily, taking a sip from his mug. "She'll forget all about it soon… if someone doesn't go out of his way to remind her." He said, giving Duo a look over his shoulder.

"I bet you, that even without being reminded, she'll remember it."

"You're on." Wufei grinned before turning back to the movie were the hero was disarming a bad guy with a obviously fake punch.

Wufei snorted. "This movie sucks." He said and Duo made a noise in agreement. The hero was suddenly drenched in water, making his pants just about see-through. No one reached for the remote.

Seven disarmed bad guys and one shirt later, a commercial break started up and Duo entertained himself by softly stroking his fingertips up and down th inside of Wufei's arm. Wufei responded by rubbing his thumb along the edge of Duo's pants. Neiter of them spared the television any attention after that as they slowly teased each other.

Duo let his fingertips move down over his husband's chest, touching him through his buttoned up shirt. Wufei's thump was joined by his entire hand under the hoody, stoking his waist softly.

Duo's fingertips tripped over an engorged nipple, backtracking to give it a sharp pinch. Wufei chuckled darkly. "Bad boy." He rumbled fondly, dipping a couple of fingers in under the edge of Duo's pants.

"Dad! Look!" Jenny ran into the room, holding another multi colored necklace in her hand.

Wufei calmly pulled his hand out from under Duo's hoody and took it. "That's very nice sweetheart, I'm sure Quatre will be very happy."

"Can I give it today?" She asked hopefully, pulling on the edge of her dress.

"No, not today. It's late and Quatre needs to sleep." He gave Duo a leer over his shoulder. "I'll give you a ride over to him on Monday, then you can say hi to daddy too." Jenny grinned happily.

Duo snorted in amusement and pushed Wufei off of him and got to his feet. "And now it's time for bed." He said, taking the little girl's hand.

"I want to sleep with you." She informed him happily.

Duo nodded. "Let's go brush your teeth first, okay?"

"Okay." She held up her arms to be picked up.

Duo groaned. "No horse riding tonight, daddy's back needs to rest."

Jenny nodded and started skipping towards the bathroom, feeling relieved Duo moved to follow her.

As he passed Wufei, he got a heated look that spoke volumes on how the night's plans didn't include their daughter sleeping in their bed. Duo just smiled, brushing his hip against Wufei's front in a promise for more.

Wufei sucked in a breath between his teeth. "I'll go check on the boys."

Duo leered. "You do that."

It was a bit too early for full grown men to go to bed, but what were you supposed to do when it was a bullet proof way to make sure that your kid was a sleep in no time? They changed into their sleep wear. T-shirt and boxers for Wufei, pajamas bottoms for him and a light pink nightgown with puppies on it for Jenny.

From when they had settled down, it took barely two minutes for Jenny to fall asleep. They waited a couple of more, just to make sure.

"I'll take her." Duo whispered. Carefully he lifted his sleeping burden out of the bed, ignoring that his shoulders were protesting against the stain. Quietly they walked through the house. Wufei walked a couple of steps ahead, opening doors and kicking toys out of the way.

As he waited patiently for Wufei to lift the duvet and get the seemingly hundreds of dolls and stuffed animals off the bed, he took a moment to look at his husband. Wufei had gained a lot more muscles in the last few years, claiming that it took away his more feminine features. Personally, Duo had no idea what features he was talking about. He was actually pretty sure that the only feminine thing left in Wufei was his taste in movies and the fact that he still leaned on his hip. His hair was a bit longer, reaching just past his shoulders when it was hanging freely and he had an ever harder time than before to keep control of his facial hair that was growing like weed. In exception that his ass was even nicer than before, most things were the same.

With the last of the animals gone from the bed, he placed his daughter down on the bed and tucked her in, making sure that her favorite stuffed unicorn was lying next to her.

He didn't get time to do much more then that before Wufei had taken a tight grip on his arms and started to drag him out of the room. Not that he needed t be dragged. Because the second that the bedroom door closed behind them, Duo spun them around, pinning Wufei against the wall.

A low, rumbling groan rose from Wufei's throat as Duo pushed a knee up between his legs. A second later they were kissing, wild and hungry. The -want- had been building up since their morning petting had been interrupted by a loud crash coming from the kitchen. A crash that had turned out to be five broken plates and a devastated Jenny who 'just wanted to help.'

Wufei ripped his mouth away, the back of his head hitting the wall with a thump. "Bedroom, now." He hissed quietly, fisting the front of Duo's drag string pants.

Together they hurried back through the house, making sure to be quiet as they past the boys bedroom. Duo multitasked by getting undressed and locking the bedroom door at the same time.

Naked they tumbled down on the bed, hands moving, touching, and gripping as they kissed.

Duo landed on the bottom with Wufei straddling his hip. He gasped into their locked mouths as Wufei rolled his hip, rubbing against his cock. He took two handfuls of the ass above him, pulling it down towards him. Wufei wrapped a hand around his cock as Duo rubbed a lone finger over Wufei's hole. With a needy moan, his lover pressed back, making Duo's finger tip breach the tight muscle and then the baby started crying.

They froze like one. A second past before Wufei's head fall down on his chest with a groan.

"You take this one and I'll take the next one." Duo said, stroking his hand over the back of his husbands head.

"Okay." Wufei sighed heavily and started to slide off both him and the bed. Duo watched him go with slithered eyes until the naked body could no longer be seen.

He rolled over on his stomach, bundling the pillow up under his head as he closed his eyes, listening to Wufei's calm voice in between their son's wailing. The crying went on and on, like a strange sort of lullaby. It didn't take long before he was asleep.

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Duo woke up to soft kisses to the back of his neck.

"Kid's sl'pn?" He mumbled into the pillow.

"Mmmhmm." Was the responds as the duvet was slowly pulled off his body. The kisses started to work their way down his back as strong hands were stroking all the skin they could find.

"Rub shoulder, hurts." Duo said before sighing in happiness as Wufei pressed down on his hurting muscles. Babies really were heavy to carry around. Feeling warm and relaxed, despite the lack of duvet, Duo couldn't decide if he would rather have sex or sleep. Time for sex was rare, but on the other hand, so was sleep.

Wufei took the decision out of his hands as he nudged his legs apart with his knees. He only grunted as Wufei put a hand on his shoulder blade, using it as a support to lean over to reach the nightstand. Digging deep under magazines, postcards, doctor reports, wrinkled notes covered with Wufei's flowing writing, spare change and other things long forgotten before he found a tube of lubrication.

Duo yawned as Wufei started working his fingers into his anal opening. He had almost drifted off again when Wufei started to push his cock in. He grunted in discomfort. "I'm really happy that you didn't go for a bigger size on that thing."

Wufei let out a stained chuckle. "The bigger size came with the need of a pump."

"Now that would be a turn off." Duo trailed off as Wufei pressed himself all the way in. They stayed like that for a moment until Duo signaled that he was ready.

Wufei started to move in a slow, lasting tempo. The pleasure built in time with his thrusts, making Duo sigh happily as he melted even more firmly into the mattress

"Can you raise yourself up for me love?" Wufei asked, touching his hip softly.

"No." Duo yawned, not caring for a moment that his cock wasn't about to get any stimulation if he stayed flat on his stomach.

"Lazy." Wufei accused fondly.

"Mmm."

Wufei placed his fisted hands in height with Duo's waist before he started moving again. Long, gentle thrusts. There were no rush to get off, no burning passion without control. Just two tired parents wanting to be close in the middle of their busy lives.

He hummed happily as Wufei managed to find his prostate, rubbing it over and over again. Pleasure slowly built up, buzzing through him, making him clenched the bed sheets, panting as he listened to Wufei's pleasure filled huffs behind him.

The muscles in his legs stained as he widened them to give Wufei more room. The result was even deeper thrust that made Duo gasp. If he had known how good this felt he would have bought that strap-on Meilan had wanted without protest.

But all good things must come to an end and a few minutes later, Wufei stilled, chocking out a couple of shaky breaths a he finished.

Panting, Wufei landed on the mattress next to him. Duo's cock demanded some attention and he flipped over on his back.

He wrinkled his nose as he felt he's ass ache in protest. The gay thing had a few down sides

Oh well, the gay things hand a couple of more upsides. Especially the one being presented to him now. Because if Duo thought Wufei had given great blowjobs before, it was nothing compared to when he had first hand experience on what felt good.

Duo pressed his lips together tightly, forcing back groans of pleasure as he throw his head back. His fingers combed their way through Wufei's hair, pressing into the back of his lover's skull, urging him on. Hips arched helplessly of the bed, begging wordlessly for release as Wufei worked his mouth up and down his blood filled cock. It didn't take long for him to come and he melted against the mattress with a pleased sigh. Life was good. Hell, life was fucking awesome.

Licking his lips, Wufei crawled up next to him, pulling the duvet over them. They moved in close, wrapping themselves around each other. Sweaty, exhausted, but content they started to drift off.

A low hiccup like whine was all the warning they got before the baby shaped fire alarm went off.

"Your turn." Wufei sighed happily, rolling over with his back towards him, taking the duvet with him.

Duo blinked tiredly up at the ceiling with eyes that did not want to stay open. The wailing went on, getting louder. If he didn't go now, the other one, most likely Timmy, would start up too. He slowly pushed his body into a sitting position. Behind him he could hear Wufei's soft snore.

"Right." He mumbled to himself before getting up to comfort his son.

Life was good, it was just that, as a parent, you were too tired to appreciate it sometimes.

THE END

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That was it… damn I'm going to miss writing on this fiction. Thanks to everyone who put this on alert/favorited/reviewed this story, I'm really grateful.

BigSister2 - Thank you :) I'm very happy that you liked it, not to mention thrilled that you stuck with me to the end, lots of love for that. Hm, I just hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

Mili Maxwell - We got to see a bit more of the 'happily ever after' or as much of an happy ending that people with babies can have :D

roses in bloom - Why thank you :) Yes, the epilogue was far too short. When I was half way through it I just thought 'is someone ended a fiction I liked like this I would be pissed.' I almost deleted the whole thing but since I needed a few things from it for the 'ten years later' thing, I kept it. I hope it all worked out anyway.

spider-jen - I know what you meet. You want them to get together and then when they do, you are sad because it's ending. I'm going to miss this fiction, hell I'm probably going to end up writing a sequel sooner or later. Thanks for reading :)

shogi - Maybe I should have a word with my boss about it... sorry, can't come to work right now, have to write review responses... lol, I can just imagine the look on her face if I said that. So what did you think about the family, did it live up to your expectations?

yesterdays_lover - Yay! I'm happy that you liked it :D

hugglesbunny - Awww, now you have me blushing and grinning like a fool. Thank you for your kind words and I hope you enjoyed this 'ten years later' chapter

princess cythera - Glad you liked it and I hope it was worth the wait :)

Cinnamon Selkie - I'm very happy to hear that you liked it and I hope you enjoyed this ten years later... thing. Oh, and good news, I actually sent the first part of the last chapter of My Dark Eyed Wallflower to my new beta yesterday so it won't be long now :)

Esoritoc - So I got you a meeting between the mothers, happy now? I don't drink coffee, but I just couldn't say no to the cookies and the bunny. Especially the bunny, the bunny was awesome. –pats the bunny-

becca-chan'05 - Well as you could see, Duo got used to the sex after a few years, he just needed to be a bit more open-minded XD Was it realistic enough? I hope it was.

StandingOnTheRooftops Yes, Duo's mother is slightly crazy, actors have a habit of being that. Oh, and about the pepper pots. They didn't make an appearance but I can tell you that they stood on the kitchen counter for several years until Jenny moved away from home and took them with her. One of them has a crack on the bottom because it rolled off the counter when Duo and Wufei was having sex on it. Luckily, Jenny doesn't know that.

TanithNight - Well I'm glad to hear it, I hope you were just as happy when you saw this update :)

Droarion - I hope you liked the pump XD Thank you for all your reviews, I've really enjoyed them.


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